Man Booker Room

Ok, up next we have Room, by Emma Donoghue.

Loved this book.

I am really glad that I didn't read any of the reviews before I dived into this book. I find that some reviews just give far too much away- and I'm not talking about when 'spoilers' are highlighted, I mean simply in the body of the review itself. I probably go too far the other way and don't say enough. Ho hum.

So.....the narrator of the story is a 5 year old boy and for the first few pages I wasn't really sure what is going on- there is no back story, you are simply dropped into his day. As the beginning of the book unfolded I developed my own theory about what was going on, based partly on some 'clues' in the text. But all was not quite as I had thought. The 'clues' did indeed turn out to be hints to what was going on, but not quite the way I had expected. It was with growing horror and tension that I realised what the truth of the matter was. Now, was that sufficiently vague not to give the plot away and sufficiently pithy to hold your attention? I thought not, but I really don't want to give anything away about the plot.

About a third/ half way into the book the truth of the situation becomes apparent, yet despite this revelation the book remained a real page-turner. I think that says a lot about the strength of the writing and the believability of the characters. I stayed up into the wee small hours to finish this book.

I'm not going to say any more about the content as I don't want to give the game away.

Do I think it is a Booker winner? Who the heck knows? The fact that I loved it might be enough to blight it ;0).

Scores on the door: 10/10