Review and Giveaway: Room - Emma Donoghue

In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time. - Amazon

Room is another book that I put on my TBR list due to the buzz I saw about it on Twitter.  I initially proposed reading this book as part of my book club, but the parents in the group felt they couldn't handle the subject matter. At first I had a hard time adjusting to the style of the writing.  The capitalization really threw me off.  I thought overall though the book was well written.

I liked how the reader got to see how Jack and his mother adapted within the room where they were kept as well as how they adapted to the real world after escaping.  I felt as a reader I got enough closure about how the characters moved on (or didn't) after their extreme situation was resolved.  

I also liked how the reader got to see how different people, the nurse at the clinic to Jack's grandmother to Jack's uncle, interacted with Jack and his mother after they were released.

Even though this book deals with a sensitive topic, I feel that everyone should read it and have their own reaction.  I'm sure that if I was a parent and reading this book, my reaction would have been different.

I have an extra copy of the book to giveaway.  Fill out the form below for your chance to win a copy of this book! This giveaway is only open to US residents (no P.O. boxes).  I'll pick a winner on January 1, 2011.

Update: Giveaway is closed and a winner has been chosen. Using Random.org, Jamie won the book!