Readings' Book
of the Month for August is Irish writer Emma Donogue's
Room. The book is getting a lot of hype around the world,
has already sold translation right into sixteen countries and
overnight was announced as one of the thirteen novels on the Man
Booker prize longlist.
Narrated by five-year-old Jack Room is a story of Jack and his mother who live in a locked room that measures eleven foot by eleven. When Jack turns five, he starts to ask questions and his mother reveals to him that there is a world outside.
A glowing quote by Audrey Niffenegger about Room has been doing the rounds in the lead up to the book's release - ‘"Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness. Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it’s over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days."
Readings staff member Edwina Kaye was transfixed by the book and in her review of it says, 'I fell asleep thinking about it, and woke up itching to pick it up again. I read it on the tram to and from work, and attempted to read it as I walked home. I cursed Melbourne’s streetlights for being too far apart to comfortably read by while walking down the street.'
You can read Edwina's full review of Room here. And here's Emma Donoghue talking to YouTube about the book.
