Room by Emma Donoghue

I read about this book when it came out last Autumn, but I didn't rush to read it because I thought it would be way too depressing.  I thought of that woman in Austria held prisoner in a basement, and I shuddered. But then this book came up on free library download, so I went for it.  And I'm so glad I did, because it's one of the best books I've read in a while.  It grabbed me by the heart and pulled me into the tiny world where Jack and his Ma live, a place called "Room."  And everything in Room has a name, and often a gender.  Rug is like a person, and Lamp is cheery and bright and all these inanimate objects are Jack's "friends."   Because Ma is a brilliant survivor, a warrior for her son, Jack doesn't know that his world is just a tiny piece of the universe, even though they have a TV.  I wrote more about this world, but then I deleted it because how this ingenious novel unfolds is part of its magic.  How Ma so cleverly helps Jack to perceive the world is what keeps him safe.  This novel is DIFFERENT and SMART and a page turner.  I loved the audio voices of Jack and Ma, but I urge you to read the hard copy if that's what you prefer.  My final word on this book is WOW!