Review Questions for the Room by Emma Donoghue

Why do you think the author chose to tell the story of Room through Jack and not through an omniscient, third-person narrator?

Why does Jack call their captor "Old Nick?"

Which elements of Jack's developmental delays and/or his integration issues surprised you most?

When Ma is interviewed, the interviewer implies that perhaps not everyone would agree with Ma's decisions regarding Jack - first, her decision to keep him in Room when she could have tried to have Old Nick abandon him at a hospital, and second, to teach him that Room was all there is, that things in TV aren't real, etc. What are your thoughts regarding these decisions?

Have you ever gotten into a car with someone you don't know, as Ma did? Did you find this to be a believable way for a 19-year-old to be kidnapped?

Did you find yourself wanting to know more about Old Nick? If so, why do you think this is?

Jack often wishes he were back in Room. Is there any way in which he would be better off back in isolation with only his mother? Why or why not?

What sort of problems do you think Ma will face now that she and Jack are out on their own?

New additions

Rain,

Did you add Angie and Whitney?

Unbroken

It looks like our March choice will be Unbroken. Happy Reading everyone.

p.s. I finished Room this weekend and am eager to discuss.

March Choices

Okay ladies I have two books for us to choose from. Both are based on true stories. Let me know what you think, and yes Nat they are both available on Kindle :)

UnBroken
by Laura Hillenbrand

Growing up in California in the 1920s, Louie was a hellraiser, stealing everything edible that he could carry, staging elaborate pranks, getting in fistfights, and bedeviling the local police. But as a teenager, he emerged as one of the greatest runners America had ever seen, competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he put on a sensational performance, crossed paths with Hitler, and stole a German flag right off the Reich Chancellery. He was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, and closing in on the fabled four-minute mile, when World War II began. Louie joined the Army Air Corps, becoming a bombardier. Stationed on Oahu, he survived harrowing combat, including an epic air battle that ended when his plane crash-landed, some six hundred holes in its fuselage and half the crew seriously wounded.
On a May afternoon in 1943, Louie took off on a search mission for a lost plane. Somewhere over the Pacific, the engines on his bomber failed. The plane plummeted into the sea, leaving Louie and two other men stranded on a tiny raft. Drifting for weeks and thousands of miles, they endured starvation and desperate thirst, sharks that leapt aboard the raft, trying to drag them off, a machine-gun attack from a Japanese bomber, and a typhoon with waves some forty feet high. At last, they spotted an island. As they rowed toward it, unbeknownst to them, a Japanese military boat was lurking nearby. Louie’s journey had only just begun.
It is a tale of daring, defiance, persistence, ingenuity, and the ferocious will of a man who refused to be broken.

Left To Tell

Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust Immaculée Ilibagiza (Author), Steve Erwin (Contributor)

In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God.

THORN BIRDS REVIEW

For the few of us remaining die hard book-club-ers...we will be holding our review of The Thorn Birds tomorrow night at 9 pm. Hopefully you can join! There will be no formal questions (I couldn't find any), but I am sure we can come up with lots to discuss...

Next Month's Pick and Review Time for January

Ok so next month's pick will be Room by Emma Donoghue. Also when would be a good time for review for everyone? I know we discussed it, but did we finalize? I know I mentioned that Tuesday's would be better for me then monday, I also wonder if that would be better since Monday's often fall on long weekends and holidays. Does Tuesday work for everyone? and do we want to do 2nd, 3rd or last tuesday of the month? (I can't do first). Ok let me know your thoughts! Thank you!

February Pick

Hi everyone...I was thinking it was time to choose our next selection since our review of  Thorn Birds is coming up in January. I was also worried some of you may  need a new book to read ;) I have recently read 2 amazing reads, seriously both 5 stars. So here's your pick:

In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time.


I read Room in 3 days...it's a very compelling and easy read, and although you may think it is too sad to read, its not. Jack is happy and knows no different life, he isn't abused in any way. He's smart, funny and one of the best things about this book is its told from Jack's 5 year old's voice. I absolutely loved this book!


The second choice is Same Kind of Different As Me. Switching back and forth in short segments, two narrators portray authors Hall and Moore in memoirs that begin in distant walks of life and intersect in a homeless shelter. In the charming accent of an unschooled black man with a deep, scratchy voice, narrator Barry Scott recounts Denver Moore's life of hardship and misfortune, starting on a Louisiana plantation. In contrast, the subtle Southern accent of Dan Butler speaks for co-author Ron Hall, an educated white gentleman of comfortable means. The narrators play their parts of the drama so well that listeners will believe they are hearing the men who lived the story. In the end, the two individuals form an unlikely friendship resulting from charity and challenged by tragedy.


This is the type of book that stays with you. It's an amazing story and definitely challenges you to want to be a better person. These are amazing people who really made a difference in many people's lives. I think its one of those books everyone should read at some point. 


Vote is at the side..... and ends next Friday :)