Room by Emma Donoghue **SPOILER ALERT**

This week I read Room by Emma Donoghue.  It is about a 5 year old boy named Jack and his mom who are being held hostage in a garden shed.  The mom, who is just defined as 'Ma' in the story, has been held captive for 9 years and is a victim of sexual abuse.  Jack has grown up only knowing Room.  He also tends to call objects such as table, bath, and rug, proper nouns.  Eventually Jack and Ma make a narrow escape from Old Nick and make there way to a health care facility where they are reunited with old family. 

Jack often confides in his mother and wishes that he was back in Room.  Every time I read about Jack wishing for this I was thinking "Would it be better if Jack was back in Room with just his mother?"  Jack is only five and is very confused about how the real world works.  Even in room, Ma would often explain that there were tons of people in Outside.  I think Jack is very overwhelmed by all the things everyone is telling him. 

One place where I see Jack being overwhelmed is when he hops off of Old Nicks truck to find the police.  since the story is told from Jack's perspective, he is describing his emotions.  He is so overwhelmed that he can't even find the right words to describe his emotion.

I don't think it would be beneficial for jack to be in a confined space with Ma again.  There are two sides to the story.  Jack may feel like he wants the relationship with his mom to continue and he doesn't want to deal with Outside any more.  But the mother wants to be free. Jack didn't understand that Ma was forced to stay into the room, and he didn't know how bad everything really was.  Ma deserves to be free and raise her son normally.