Book Review - Room

Something new to learn about me, I am a reader, or book nerd if you prefer.  I am always reading something, usually a book (I'm not much of a magazine person).  To The Cyclist's dismay I also must read before I go to sleep which invites complaints for my light being on too long.  Whatevs.  This is one I won't budge on.

Because I read often and pretty much anything I can get my hands on, I sometimes end up reading stuff that is dumb or just plain bad, but I always finish them anyway - I can't help it, I have to know the end.  (Room was definitely not in either of these categories).  I'm not going to spend time on this blog reviewing books that are crappy, but I will keep a running log of what I'm reading in the nifty GoodReads widget that I added over there →
Additionally, I won't review a book here unless I've just read it.  There are lots of books I would recommend, but I don't want to write about them unless they are fresh in my head.  I'll be adding some of my favorite books to the nifty widget over the next couple of weeks, and I'll give them a star rating on GoodReads.

Room was the first book I've read on the Kindle.  I was kind of opposed, because I like having a real book, but the Kindle was actually pretty sweet.  Easy to travel with and not so heavy.  If you haven't used a Kindle, they are not back-lit (this was first pointed out to us by Mrs. Bestie) meaning they don't look like a computer screen and you need a light to read on it.  What's cool about that though is it's OK for your eyes and looks like a real book.  Another feature I liked about the Kindle is it holds the page for you.

On to the book review...

Room is told from the perspective of one of the two main characters, Jack, who is a five year old boy.  We quickly figure out that Jack and his "Ma" are living in a very small room and from Jack's perspective, certain physical items in the room are like people or characters.  He talks about "Lamp" and "Wardrobe" like thy are his friends.

After some time goes by it becomes clear that Jack and Ma are being held captive in Room.  I'm not going to do any spoilers here, so don't be afraid to read on. 

I thought Room was really a great book.  It depicts the horror of the situation, but because it is told from Jack's perspective, there is quite a bit of humor as well.  Additionally, there were some things that happened in the book that I was absolutely not expecting, which is nice for the reader (I think).  As much as I wanted to know what was going to happen to Jack and Ma, I also didn't want to put the book down and was a little sad when it was over.  I could see someone trying to make a movie out of Room someday, which I'm not so sure about.....it might kind of wreck it.  I think the special part of the book is that you see the story through Jack's eyes, which the author did a great job writing.  I don't think this would be easy to convey in a movie.

So, if it sounds interesting to you, I suggest you read Room!