Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Review #1: Room by Emma Donoghue

Warning: This review contains some mild spoilers, but they're very central to the plot and discussing them doesn't really give anything away.

I've been a fan of Emma Donoghue for a while now. I was interested to check this book out, because it's definitely a departure from the historical fiction that she usually writes. I got this book for Christmas, and I finished it in under 24 hours. I'm a fast reader, but I think this would be a particularly quick read for most people--you can't put it down.

Room is told from the perspective of a 5 year old boy named Jack. We learn early on that he has spent his entire life living in one room with his mother, imprisoned by a man referred to as Old Nick. Jack is unaware that a world exists outside the room--although he has access to a television, he believes that the images he sees are fake. Jack's mother tells him early on in the book that world is much larger than their room, and starts preparing him for life on the outside once they are able to escape. 

The story is divided up into three parts: life in the room, the escape from the room, and life in the "real world." Jack's changing perceptions of the world around him are thus a huge focus of the narrative, contrasting his limited experiences with his growing awareness of things that most other people would take for granted. 

I really enjoyed this book. I honestly could not stop reading it--you become so invested in the story that you need to find out what happens. Jack is such a wonderful, endearing narrator, and is the reason that the books succeeds as well as it does. In the hands of a less talented author, or with a different narrator, the story could have failed, mainly because the plot-lines are a bit predictable. But Jack is so well-written and so realistic that you can't help but become attached to him and his story. I though Donoghue did an incredible job at capturing the voice of a five-year-old, but at the same time creating a narrator who is appealing to adults. I was slightly apprehensive when I realized that Jack's voice would be the only one we hear throughout the book, simply because I wasn't sure how well that would hold up--I thought that it would get annoying or tiring to read after a certain point. I really didn't find that to be the case at all, though, mostly because Jack is so three-dimensional. He is such a well-written character, and Donoghue allows him to develop like any adult character. She does an incredible job of portraying his way of seeing the world. 

I also think this book has such a great balance of emotions--there is no black and white. All instances of joy are counterbalanced by really dark moments of anger or sadness, all wonder and awe is contrasted with disorientation and confusion. Donoghue really makes an incredibly distant scenario feel relatable and personal by giving the characters such nuanced perceptions and feelings.

I highly recommend this novel. The plot is very basic, but Donoghue is such a wonderful writer and truly brings her characters and the worlds they inhabit to life that the plot almost takes a backseat. The character of Jack alone makes this book worth the read. 

Friday, November 12, 2010

First Post!

I've been meaning to start a book review blog for a long time. When I heard that Pajiba, one of my favorite movie/book review sites, was beginning a new round of the Cannonball Read (a challenge to read 52 books in one year), I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get around to setting up a site. I've wanted to do the challenge for a while, but I haven't had the time with school/work/generally being a college student. Now that I'm a junior, though, and pretty much only taking literature and writing classes, I'm averaging two books a week anyway.

So this blog will feature reviews of books I read for class as well as books I am reading for pleasure (expect a lot more of those during December/January and the summer). I will also review some short stories and essays, since I read a lot of those. I might expand at some point to include music/movies/other things, but for now just expect lots of books and maybe some general ramblings on whatever I feel like talking about. We'll see how it goes.

So enjoy! My first review should be posted sometime this weekend.