Rated of 5
by Jan Language of child just not right
I can't stop thinking about this story - and that is a compliment. Although I couldn't put it down, I cringed my way through the child language that just is not realistic for a 5 year old child in that situation. The author herself, in the author notes, says that Ma could give him one thing and that was "language." Then why is the child portrayed with staccato sentences and verb tense errors throughout? That is simply not realistic for a child who is engaging in language throughout the day - more than anything else he does - he simply would not be making those errors at five years old with his mother right there as a model. "Rided?" it could happen once, but mother would gently and earnestly correct it - especially when "language" is all they had to do all day. The argument that he was developmentally delayed doesn't work because of the higher level thoughts the author attributes to the child. With "insights" like he had, his language wouldn't have lagged that far behind. It just doesn't happen that way, because thoughts are language. (I am a Speech/Language Pathologist.)
Rated of 5
by jodi Room
I don't see how people think this book was boring or a waste of time. I think it was an amazing lesson to what life could of been like if you were like that....truly amazing!
Rated of 5
by Louise J Boring!
I don’t really know what to say about this book. I do know that I’m disappointed as I don’t think it lived up to all the hype and hoopla that was generated by the public, but then again, I’m only one person. Obviously this just wasn’t the book for me. I found it silly and boring to be quite honest. Enough said.
Rated of 5
by Katharine English Enough Already
Daring to go against the wildly enthusiastic critical acclaim of this novel, may I, as an English/Literature Major and teacher, offer the opinion that the book, Room (the story of a five-year-old boy and his mother held against her will by her abductor/rapist for many years and told from the boy's point of view), is a huge disappointment: poorly written (how much can we stand of a 5-year-old's narrative prose?); rhetorically unimaginative; bruisingly graphic; wholly predictible; and weakest where it should be strongest – in the complexities of the child's adjustment to a strange new world Outside, and the severance of a unique but grotesque bond between mother and child. This book has none of the usual earmarks of a Booker-Mann novel and, I suspect, is regarded highly, in part, because of the public's reluctance to criticize the use of the subject matter.
Rated of 5
by Lizz D I LOVED IT!
From 9:00 pm-2:00 am, 5 hours, Room held me tightly in it's little 5 year old grasp and refused to let go.
Jack is turning 5. He's like most other 5 year old boys; he likes to play games and he loves Dora the Explorer. But Jack has grown up in the same room his whole life. All he knows is Room, his Ma and Old Nick who once a week brings food and occasionally treats.
The book is told from Jack's perspective and was so accurately child-like. He takes turn of phrase literally, and is overly inquisitive.
I quite literally couldn't put this book down. I crawled onto the couch and didn't leave till I read the last page. I highly recommend this book.
There was some swearing, but mostly just adult themes.
Rated of 5
by chetyarbrough.com Survive
Listen and savor a fictional story that is as real as the sun.
Jack and Ma, the main characters of “Room”, are wonderfully created by Emma Donogheu. Her skillful direction of the narrators and their audio presentation enrich the power of Donogheu’s writing.
The beginning of the book is a puzzle because the listener sees the world through the eyes of a five year old and his mother. Part of the story’s appeal is seeing life through these eyes but also wanting to know why the world seems off center, almost surreal.
As early chapters unfold, the listener is drawn into a dark labyrinth of a mother’s fear and loathing. The mother’s fear and loathing is contrasted with the joy and wonder of her young son. The listener is puzzled by how and why that contrast exists. As the cause of the difference in perception becomes clear, the listener begins to admire the strength and wisdom of Ma and the precociousness of Jack.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
read more
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
Full Story
of 5
by Jan 
of 5
by jodi 
of 5
by Louise J 
of 5
by Katharine English 
