Diversity in All Forms! discussion

May Bonus Read- Mother's Day

Room by Emma Donoghue

I'm definitely in for this one! I read The Wonder and thought it was great. I've had a chance to meet the author at a luncheon event and to listen speak about her writing, she was extremely interesting and very nice.

When I read this book I loved it! I'm scared to see the movie though because I know I will cry.

I need to cut out more time in my reading to try out some of her other books :)

I listened to the book on Audible. I liked the first half but not the second. The cool thing about listening to it was that there were different voices for each character. I have seen the movie and this is probably the first time I have said this but I think the movie was better than the book.

Raymond wrote: "I listened to the book on Audible. I liked the first half but not the second. The cool thing about listening to it was that there were different voices for each character. I have seen the movie and..."

I had a really hard time wrapping my head around a 5 year old narrator for some reason, but I also listened to the audiobook and appreciated it. I haven't seen the movie yet. I'm scared of crying from it haha

Great choice! I'm excited to read this.

This book was difficult for me. I had to put it down and knit for awhile to recover myself, almost after every chapter! Great novel, though.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "This book was difficult for me. I had to put it down and knit for awhile to recover myself, almost after every chapter! Great novel, though."

Yeah! I agree! It was too real of what happens to others… :(

Mariah wrote: "When I read this book I loved it! I'm scared to see the movie though because I know I will cry.

I need to cut out more time in my reading to try out some of her other books :)"

You should definitely see the film. The most exciting part of the book is replicated perfectly in the movie. I was so impressed. It so rarely happens. A recent example is Girl on the Train. The best parts were literally changed and omitted from the film. I was shocked.

Mariah, thanks for the invite! I read this back in 2011. I gave up on the print version because I didn't like reading the "child-speak". On the advice of friends, I switched to the audio version and liked it much better. The narration was great. Like Raymond, I liked the first part of the book better than the second. I still haven't seen the movie.

I so admire the mother in this book, who worked so hard to provide a 'world' for her son in this one little room.

I thought Room was okay, but have conflicted reactions to it. She got many things "right" in terms of describing trauma and a child's perspective of a traumatized parent and what that child sees as "normal." There were also a lot of other things I was less fond of – the emotional flattening/distancing by having the child narrate (which other readers might appreciate), the choice of a very atypical trauma rather than a more typical one (the sensationalizing of trauma). Thoughts?

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jeanne wrote: "I thought Room was okay, but have conflicted reactions to it. She got many things "right" in terms of describing trauma and a child's perspective of a traumatized parent and what that child sees as..."

I actually liked the child narrating, because if I had to feel the mother's emotions and go through her experiences during rape I would have never been able to finish the book.

Mariah wrote: "I actually liked the child narrating, because if I had to feel the mother's emotions and go through her experiences during rape I would have never been able to finish the book."

I understand completely and noticed that in your response and aPriL's, but also wonder what we lose with that distancing...

Jeanne wrote: "I thought Room was okay, but have conflicted reactions to it. She got many things "right" in terms of describing trauma and a child's perspective of a traumatized parent and what that child sees as..."

I agree with almost everything you mention except for the child narrator flattening the story. The boy did, however, distance the experience - for which I was profoundly grateful.

I don't think it flattened the story, but flattened the emotional experience of the story – sorry if I was unclear. I worry about stories of trauma either being sensationalized or flattened/distanced. I hate to make our lives too easy – yet if making the story more difficult prevented some of us from reading it? That would be a negative outcome, too.

Has anyone watched the BBC series, Thirteen?

No... what is that about?

Imagine Room with Ma having been kidnapped for 13 years, no child. Ivy is more clearly traumatized and emotionally about 10 years old. We actually "see" her (we didn't really see Ma), although people can't agree on what's happened/what she experienced. For most of the series – we're on Episode 3 of 5 – the police are trying to catch her kidnapper.

Thirteen is on Amazon Prime.

This one didn't grab my attention so much.

Jean wrote: "This one didn't grab my attention so much."

What about it didn't you enjoy? (I'm just curious)

Mariah wrote: "Jean wrote: "This one didn't grab my attention so much."

What about it didn't you enjoy? (I'm just curious)"

The main thing that held me back from enjoying this book was the narration by the boy. There was just so much gobbledy goop that I could take and continue reading. I know sounds harsh but there you have it (:

Jean wrote: "Mariah wrote: "Jean wrote: "This one didn't grab my attention so much."

What about it didn't you enjoy? (I'm just curious)"

The main thing that held me back from enjoying this book was the narrat..."

I completely understand that, because it took me foreverrrrr to get into the book since it was written from the boy's perspective.

I wasn't a fan of this one.

Lulu wrote: "I wasn't a fan of this one."

What about it didn't you like?

Mariah, It lacked the gut punch of emotion that I expected to get from a story like this. Maybe it was because Jack was the narrator. I later watched the movie and found it to be more moving.

Lulu wrote: "Mariah, It lacked the gut punch of emotion that I expected to get from a story like this. Maybe it was because Jack was the narrator. I later watched the movie and found it to be more moving."

Yeah! It took me a really long time getting used to a 5 year old narrator. I totally understand!

I listened to it and I think that made a big difference. I could understand much better than trying to read (I find that a lot when reading books with a strong dialect, too, for example, or when there's not a lot of punctuation, like in The Road).

I was actually surprised by the second half, because (view spoiler)[I figured they wouldn't escape until the very end. (hide spoiler)] I liked the fact that it addressed the psychological trauma that Ma dealt with (view spoiler)[and the reactions of her family, the media, etc (hide spoiler)] which were probably fairly realistic.

Alana wrote: "I listened to it and I think that made a big difference. I could understand much better than trying to read (I find that a lot when reading books with a strong dialect, too, for example, or when th..."

Agree.