Jack is five years old, and celebrates his birthday in the way that most young children in America would – with a birthday cake. This is where the similarity ends, however: Jack is no ordinary child. He and his Ma live in just one room – or Room, as they refer to it – that measures eleven feet by eleven feet, a converted garden shed that offers the smallest glimpse of the outside world through its tiny skylight. It's the only home Jack has ever known – he was born into this captivity, the product of his mother's regular night-time visits from her abductor. She was snatched from the street when she was nineteen, and now, aged 26, she is doing her best to build a normal life for the sake of her beloved son.
Escape from Room
As far as Jack knows, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the way they live – he sees the outside world on the television set he and his mother have been allowed, but does not believe it to be real. Now he is five, however, his Ma thinks he is old enough to be told the truth – and to form part of her plans for escape. At first, Jack is none too keen to leave Room, full of its familiar and well-loved items, but eventually Ma convinces him that they must escape if they are to have any hope of continued survival, and a daring plan is hatched that will change their lives forever.
Room is told entirely through Jack's perspective, a technique that requires an initial leap of faith from the reader, as he is remarkably articulate for a five year old. The novel works, however, precisely because Jack is not a typical five year old – he has been well-educated by his mother, and his narrative is a touching mixture of sophisticated vocabulary and naively innocent comments about the world around him. The novel is also cleverly structured, built around five sections: the first two deal with life inside Room, the third with their escape, and the final two with their gradual adjustment to life in the outside world. These are perhaps the most moving sections, as Jack has to come to terms not only with being the centre of a media storm, but also with having to share his Ma with others.
Man Booker Prize 2010
Room does of course present a very emotive topic, coming as it does after well-publicised cases of abduction and imprisonment which have resulted in children being born into the kind of world that Jack knows so well. Donoghue handles the subject with great sensitivity, and tells the reader very little about Old Nick, Ma's abductor. Nor do we find out Ma's name - the focus here is very much on Jack, and the use of his voice to describe the events helps the novel avoid a sensationalist approach. Room was deservedly short-listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, and although it was beaten by Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question, for many readers this was by far the most original and enjoyable book on the list.
Room by Emma Donoghue is published in hardback in the UK by Picador (2010), ISBN 978-0-330-51901-4.
Elizabeth Gregory - Liz graduated from Manchester University with a BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature, and also holds an MA in Literature from the ...
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