For a while I'd been itching to get my teeth into a good contemporary novel but nothing took my fancy, so resigning myself to going back to an old favourite, I began to search along the rows of bookshelves that line our living room. Cursing my husband for constantly buying books that he never gets round to reading that continually pile up gathering dust, suddenly one caught my eye. Room by Emma Donoghue the summary of the book grabbed me immediately, a young woman and her son live in one room completely isolated from the rest of the world apart from 'Old Nick' who brings them food and takes away their waste. Inspired by the Josef Fritzl case, Room was deservedly nominated for the Booker Prize in 2010.
The story is told from the remarkable point of the view of the five year old boy Jack who has never known anything but this one small room, his life is rapidly turned upside down, but that is as much as I'll say as I don't want to spoil the storyline. All I'll say is that it is a very special book, compelling, engaging, charming, heartbreaking but also uncontrollably absorbing. I haven't been touched so deeply by a novel in years, I just couldn't put this haunting story down. It captures the bond between a Mother and Child so vividly drawing you into this most horrific situation. Jack has refreshing outlook on those things we so take for granted. His Mother has clearly spent every waking hour teaching and nurturing this little boy making him the brightest little button. I can't recommend this enchanting, intelligently written story enough. Go, go read it straightaway.
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