The reasons for Jack’s unusual situation are left enticingly unanswered for the first few chapters of the novel. His narrative language of cataloguing cleverly reflects the confines of his existence, adding to the story’s authenticity. Jack is born and raised in a space measuring 12 foot by 12 foot and consequently, everything is singular and personified in his world. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra’. The novel opens with the captivating voice of young Jack, saying, ‘Today I’m five. Room is a restrictive, confined setting, but the ideas that Donoghue presents are far reaching. Surely Donoghue was just reusing the ideas outlined in Plato’s Cave Allegory and transferring them into a modern context? However, my obnoxious presumptions were challenged, as I found Donoghue’s novel to be far more than the examination of the single question: What is reality? Donoghue’s novel is a web which addresses this question, whilst beautifully intertwining its exploration with ideas of child-development, motherhood and survival. Tossing the novel from one hand to the other, I wondered how the exploration of one room could entertain me for over 300 pages. On the back cover of Room by Emma Donoghue, I read: ‘To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world…’ Far from enticing me, this sentence left me feeling sceptical.
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