Rooming with Independent Reading

Context: Ma is Jack’s mother and the reader interprets everything about her through Jack’s eyes. Ma has been trapped in Room for 8 years, and she has been hoping to escape and give Jack a better life than the one he is living. She only refers to Old Nick, their captor, as ‘him’, something I credit to her immense distaste for him. She devises a two plans to help her and Jack escape Room, but the first does not work. For the second plan, Jack is to pretend he is dead so that Old Nick will take him out of Room in a rug. He is then to crawl out of the rug, jump out of the back of Old Nick’s truck, and get help. All this happens while Ma waits – alone and afraid – in Room, praying for a rescue. I used quotes from the characters in my adaptation to make it as close as possible to the original version.             The door slams shut behind him. I sink to the ground, feeling all hopes of escape leaving my mind. The pain, loneliness, a...

Well... I'd be lying if I said this book didn't escalate quickly. One page Ma and Jack are playing with Egg Snake (eggshells tied together with string) and the next they are faking Jack's death to escape Room. Yeah... I know. Throughout this next chapter (the book is organized into 5 long chapters) Jack and Ma go through many emotional changes, and each day is completely new from the last. One part of the life that Ma lives in Room was revealed to be domestic violence. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men are victims of domestic violence in their lifetime. Throughout this chapter, it is revealed that Ma was kidnapped by Old Nick when she was 19 years old, and has been locked in room ever since. Because the only person she has had contact with is Old Nick, it can be inferred that Jack is a child that Ma and Old Nick had together. Whenever Old Nick visits Room he and Ma sleep together, something Jack is too young to understand but the reader can infer. One night Jack's remote-...

I chose to read the novel Room  by Emma Donoghue for my fiction independent reading book. The book was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, one of the listed awards, and won the Goodreads Choice Award for best fiction book. I figured it would be a good read, because it was adapted into an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning movie starring Brie Larson. The book is about a young mother and her son, Jack, who live in and 11 x 11 foot room. Jack narrates the story through his 5 year old eyes, but I still feel like I am getting an accurate enough portrayal of the life Jack and Ma (the only way Jack's mother has been referred to as) live. They are visited by a man who Jack calls "Old Nick" and that is how they receive the food and supplies they need. I was a little concerned that I would not like the book, because the plot takes place in only one setting, but I am enjoying it so far. One thing that I already find noticeable is Jack's word choices. Jack calls inani...