Room by Emma Donoghue.....

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friend Jennifer (she's also my "boss" at my volunteer job) for mentioning this book.

Room by Emma Donoghue is about a woman who has been held captive in a room for seven years. The story is told from the point of view of Jack, her son, who is five years old and has never been outside this room.

Jennifer told me almost exactly that much information about the book as I have revealed, and I'm so glad she did. The story seems a tad bizarre at the beginning, and I might have been lost if I hadn't known part of the story's origin.

I think Emma Donoghue did a terrific job of telling the story through Jack's eyes. I think it was genius the way she revealed very adult themes through the language of a five-year-old.

A couple of examples of Jack's precocious (and precious) use of language:

"Houses are like lots of Rooms stuck together, TV persons stay in them mostly but sometimes they go in their outsides and weather happens to them." 

"The world is always changing brightness and hotness and soundness, I never know how it's going to be the next minute."

"The little cards with numbers all over are called a lottery, idiots buy them hoping to get magicked into millionaires."

I left out a couple of my favorite quotes from Jack because they might reveal too much of what happens in the book. I hate it when someone does that to me, so I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

I love this little guy so much. And it's not JUST because he shares his name with my brother AND with one of my blogger pals. He's honest, he forces grown-ups to be honest, and he is true to himself. 

Definitely a good read. Make that a wonderful, awesome, well-worth-your-time read.