I raced through Room in less than 48 hours, but I'm still unsure how I feel about it. It was certainly an interesting perspective, to feature the entire novel from the mind of a 5 year old child. There have been other 'adult' books featuring the perspective of children during dark times I'm sure, but Room stands out by having a unique scenario.

As interesting as Jack's narrative was there were times after their escape that I wished we were getting more of his mother's perspective. Granted this is because they were separated and we as the reader got no insight into Ma's mental health and how she was coping at all because Jack wasn't told, but at that point, she was the more interesting character.

Ultimately, the book felt more like an exercise - an extremely well-executed one, granted - but there was something stopping me from being able to emotionally connect to the book. 6.4/10 ( )

This book is very well done, but definitely evoked others for me (The Road, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night).

The story is one of a mother who was kidnapped and is being held captive, and her son, Jack. Jack has never known anything but living with his mother in a single room. The book is narrated from Jack's perspective which is what makes it unique and moving - - as opposed to sensational or scary.

For me, Room got off to a slow start, but I am going to concede that the early chapters were absolutely necessary to create the rest of the book. And I found the remainder pretty riveting reading.

It's hard to review this book without revealing details, and honestly, I think this book would have been best read knowing NOTHING about it at all. So I'm not going to be the one to drop details here.I will just say it is the type of book that really looks at life in a fresh way -- and I found that to be smart (on the author's part) and also, after the first quarter, I found myself really, really caring about the narrator. Which propelled me quickly through the remainder.

I seriously think if I hadn't read The Road - - which definitely had many parallels -- I'd have liked this book even more. In my opinion, The Road did it better, BUT I do think this book has more mass appeal and is easier, more suspenseful read.

Definitely suggest throwing it on your too high TBR's. Worth it. ( )

This made me so uncomfortable. ( )

I couldn't put it down and thought that it was excellent. ( )

CW: Kidnapping and sexual abuse of teen

2.5 Stars ( )