Book Review for Room, by Emma Donoghue

★★★★★

What I thought it would be going in:

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think I was going in understanding what the book was going to be about, but the perspective and style was not what I thought it would be.

My initial impressions:

I was struck by the style more than anything. I read this book back in 2011, and so I don’t remember a lot about my initial impressions other than what’s written below in my final impressions. I did love the book though, and still have my copy from back then, and do recommend it as a read.

My final impressions:

I loved the book. I read it when I was in Year 10, and for me, it was just such powerful and impactful writing that I became very interested in how perspective and horrifying situations can be handled/manipulated in writing. I hadn’t ever read anything like it before.

What I liked most:

The effectiveness of how Jack’s perspective is written, and how impactful scenes are set up in a way that makes them seem perfectly innocent, but we’re very much aware of the underlying horrors of those moments, such as them playing the screaming game—which is just his mother trying to scream for help

What I disliked most:

Nothing to do with the writing itself, but rather the frustration of the content, thinking of the reality of sexual abuse and fear women live with that there’s the possibility that one might end up in a similar position.