ROOM

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Many, many thanks to all of you faithful readers who followed me over to Poe's Deadly Daughters and left comments yesterday. And what great comments they were! You all are the best! I'll be drawing for the winner of the signed DAY OF SMALL THINGS sometime after seven AM EST on Monday (so there's still time to comment over there if you haven't) and will post the winner's name here on this blog on Tuesday. And now, to today's post...

As many of you know, my reading has been limited recently to mysteries I can't talk about.  But an interview on the radio the other day piqued my curiosity and when I saw a copy of ROOM while I was shopping last Tuesday, well, I didn't hesitate.

I started reading it while waiting for my writing class to begin; I nibbled at it during the fifteen minutes they were doing in class writing; and when I got back home at 9:30 pm, I sat down and read straight through to the end.

That's what kind of book this is.

ROOM is the story of Jack and his mother, prisoners in an 11 by 11 room in a back yard shed. Jack is five -- he was born there, sired by his mother's captor -- and it's through his words the tale is told, through his eyes, we see the world.

I know; it sounds grim. But the thing is -- it's not. Jack is happy in the only world he's ever known, thanks to his mother's splendid capacity for inventiveness.

This anazing novel has much to say about human nature and the human condition and the mother-child relationship. Donoghue's depiction of how Jack responds to his small, familiar world and the massive adjustment needed when at last he and his mother escape to the larger world is masterful.

But don't take my word for it. There's a good review HERE 

Oh, and ROOM is short listed for the prestigious Booker Prize.

Can you tell I liked this book?