Book Review:Room

Room Book Review

Ann Thomas

    Room is a groundbreaking novel by Emma Donoghue. Emma was born in Dublin, Ireland. She has written several other bestsellers like Slammerkin. She has received tons of praise regarding room. Malcolm Jones claimed, “Be Warned: once you enter, you’ll be Emma Donoghue’s willing prisoner right down to the last page.”  The genre this novel would fall in is thriller/adrenaline.  The story starts with a child on his 5th birthday. The boy’s name is Jack and he and his mother are confined in a room by the abductor, Old Nick. The book follows Jack in his daily life and is craft fully written through his eyes.

    The plot is genius. The idea of being trapped in a room for so long makes a great book. Donoghue keeps a steady pace throughout the book. It starts off in the room. For some chapters Jacks describes his daily chores and things he does to relieve boredom. Towards the middle of the book Ma tells Jack of a plan to escape. This part seemed weak, because there were many things wrong with it. Why wouldn’t Old Nick check if he was dead before carrying him out? Also who puts a dead child in the back of your truck and not look suspicious? The rest of the book entails how jack struggles to conform to “a normal child”. Jack constantly yearn to go back to the room, because it’s all he’s known. It was his home for so long. New experiences are emerging to Jack daily and the way he deals with them, is what makes this book so interesting. The novel is written in present time but has short bursts when Ma talks of before she was kidnapped. “Well—actually no, I was adopted. She and my dad—you’d call him grandpa. Also I had—I Have—a big brother called Paul.”

    The thing that makes this book stand out from others is the style it is written in. Emma decided to tell the story through a young boy’s eyes. It makes the whole idea of being kidnapped seem less scary. Because to Jack, it’s not scary. It’s all he’s known and he likes having a routine. Jack seems to like being in the room with his mother, he just seems happy. Since Jack is still growing up he doesn’t always say everything right. The reader only knows what Jack sees and hears. He refers to items as a person. “We wake up and the air’s shiverier. Watch says 7:09, he has a battery, that’s his own little power hidden inside him.” Jack is very smart for his age, the author almost made him too smart in some ways.But he doesn’t understand the difference between real life and t.v. This is because he has grown up in the room, so when he sees things on the TV, he assumes they are all fake. Of course, if Jack had grown up in the world he would be aware of all the future that lies ahead of him. But in the room, Jack struggles to understand why he doesn’t have the things he sees on tv. The tv is a metaphor for this fake world he had made for himself. He has fashioned the idea in his head that no world exists out of the room. He and his mom and Old Nick are the only people alive and everything else is fake. At the end of the book Jack has a better understanding of this. Sometimes, Ma gets frustrated at Jack for not understanding.

“But dreams.” I wait. “Are they TV?” She still doesn’t answer. “Do we go into TV for dreaming?”

    Ma is a very interesting character. It takes a lot of inner strength to be in a confined space for 7 years and not give up. It is clearly evident that Ma loves Jack with all her being. She only wants the best for jack. Ma wants him to have a regular childhood like the other kids. Ma’s character changed after the escape. She became snappy with the workers and sometimes Jack. Ma seems the strongest at the beginning of the book, and as the book progresses it seems like her strength is slowly deteriorating. Towards the end, Ma turns to drugs for her relief. She overdosed on her medication. At the very end though, Ma begins to turn herself around after a scare at the hospital. She moves out and finds an apartment for her and Jack to live in. Jack is the constant character, he does not change much while everything around him is shifting. To help him feel safe Jack always keeps his mothers rotten tooth with. The tooth is a symbol of safety, it helps Jack to not be afraid when his mom is not with him.

    Overall, this book is an intriguing read.It earns 4 out of five stars. This is because the escape seems rushed in some ways. Some of the details of it are pretty hard to believe could ever be plausible in real life.But all in all, this book really makes you think about your own life. It makes you thankful about your own life. This novel was a great experience, it;s impossible to know what someone has gone through.Many people tend not to think about abduction but Emma Donoghue brings this sensitive topic to an interesting light.

http://www.roomthebook.com/inside/ This website shows a digital image of the room. It is interactive and you can see just how the author pictured it.

abounding adrenaline

While I was researching adrenaline books, I came upon Dan Brown’s books many times. Most people seem to think that his books provide great suspense built on a detailed and spurring plot. That could even be looked at as the definition of thrillers. You want something with a little bit of action, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The book I have been reading,”room”, is about a little boy and his mother. Jack was raised in captivity because his mother was captured by Old Nick almost 6 years ago. This book was really great and I was surprised how fast I finished it. It took me like 4 days of continuous reading. It is very suspenseful and like I seriously would read nonstop. Something that was very interesting to me was in the back of the book they included an interview with the author. And in that interview she states that she wouldn’t have considered her book as a thriller but she is glad her readers think so. A long time ago, Homer wrote the Odyssey, and now it is regarded as one of the first prototypes of a thriller. And I would say it was successful because a lot of people have read and loved it. Also, another story that would be regarded as a thriller is Little Red Riding Hood. This old fairy tale is basically built on top on suspense. Thriller is often linked together with mystery and crime. It’s not the exact same but they have some components in common. Dexter is considered a thriller according to good reads because of the suspense present in the book/show. Thriller is not always scary but, sometimes it can be. Sometimes, it has to do with murder. The best hardcover thriller award was given to Bad Blood by John Sandford. Some other famous authors are, Stieg Larsson, Gilligan Flynn, and Lee child. This is a picture of one of Dan Browns books because he seems to be the king of Adrenaline.

Snow day Post

Well, I have learned a lot about myself through books this trimester. For example, I get really annoyed by slow starts. The book I am currently reading has a really slow start and it was very hard for me to get into. I had to force myself to get through it. As a result it took me a very long time to finish it, because I really wasn’t interested. But once I got to the middle things started to get more interesting. I realized that I read mostly fiction books. Realistic fiction to be more specific. I just enjoy reading about things that could have happened. Also, I recently discovered that memoirs can also be fun to read. Last year I read a couple that my teacher recommended and I liked it a lot. I just love how they were true stories. The ones I read were about hardships in the author’s life. And it just amazed me how the authors had the amazing strength to write about it. It’s a new approach and the authors shed new light on subjects I would have never thought of. I discovered that I lose interest in books over 350 pgs. Also, if the authors extends the series to over 7 books. I feel like the authors are stretching the book out and can’t find a good stopping point. I’ve read some books over that amount, but the authors kept me intrigued. I also really like cliff hangers. I find them very suspenseful and make me want to read the next book. Also I have read a couple books with illustrations. I have found that they really add to the book. They make the experience a little more real. And you can compare your imagination to the authors.

where the wild things are

I think this was a successful film adaptation. The movie portrays the book well in my opinion. It makes the film much more pleasing to watch when the editing techniques are used. The close ups and extreme close ups really showed emotion and feelings that book really doesn't. However I think that the movie was very stretched out. The book was originally not very long and the movie just seemed to stretch everything to the point where it was not very entertaining to watch. I thought the ending was rushed in the movie. It seemed like it was sloppily put together and not much thought went into it. the book gave a better ending and paced it correctly in my opinion. The book and the movie had similar traits. And spike jonze did a pretty good job recreating it. I was not able to watch the entire movie, but from what I observed the film and the book were similar. I even preferred the film over the book. I liked the monsters and they way they were presented. In the  book  I really didn't like the way it was illustrated. All the lines made my head hurt. Also in the book it was a snowball fight but in the movie it turned into a dirt war. there were just tiny little mistakes that changed the movie slightly. I think in the movie the setting was beautiful and portrayed an island much more beautifully than the book

Blog post 5

A book that I really like is the fault in Our Stars by John Green.It tells a tale of 2 normal teens and their struggles with cancer. It is currently being made into a movie but it has not been out yet. So, I’m going to put this under the category of”It has not been made in to a movie…”  I think this would make an amazing movie.  Partly, because it’s been on the Best Sellers list for many weeks. Also John Green has a new style of writing. He’s very honest and expresses his emotions through his characters. There has been a lot of hype about this book. Most teenage girls (or boys) have read them, or are planning to. As a director I would definitely make sure I would not cast really popular celebrities into the main roles. This is because the main idea of this book is the fact they are just 2 normal teenagers with cancer. I would cast a girl with pixie cut hair, slightly awkward. For Gus I would cast someone who plays basketball well. He should be lean and tall and possibly have brown hair. I also would lessen the mother’s role in Hazel’s life. At times throughout the book I found it really annoying that she was nagging Hazel. Obviously, I understand the mother loves Hazel very much. So, there should be a mother but she shouldn’t be one of the main characters. The voyage that Hazel and Gus take together and the events that happen there are very important. So, I definitely would include that. Put a really large emphasis on when Gus tells Hazel that he has had a relapse of cancer. I like Isaac’s role in this book. It would bring some comedic relief to the movie. Isaac’s life is very ironic, like where his girlfriend breaks up with him because he can’t see her. To how he has to talk to his computer because he is blind. Some other important scenes include meeting the author, and the meetings in “the literal heart of Jesus”. I think these really add variety to the movie and I would bring them out a lot. I really would like to change the ending. But the story won’t be the same without it. I think this would make a great movie. It probably really wouldn’t be that great as a play. And definitely not as a t.v. show. That’s because it really doesn’t have a lot of content. And you can’t stretch it out to 4 or 5 seasons. The picture below is the cast they have already selected for this movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book 1 final

Fan Experience

Ann Thomas

The Book Hate List by Jennifer Brown was all about hate. Valerie and her boyfriend, Nick wrote down all the things that the hated in a notebook. One day Nick comes to school with a gun. He proceeds to shoot everyone in the cafeteria that was on the Hate List.And no one knows why. Not even Valerie. This scenario is just a story but it has, and could happen.

I propose we turn it around. Instead of focusing on the hate that you feel for a person –forget them. Think about the good people instead. The people that make you feel special and really genuinely care about you. That’s where the Love List comes in. In the Hate list the main characters wrote down everything they hated about a specific person. In the Love List you would have an opportunity to write down what you appreciate about the people in your life.

“Hey, I’ve got some names for the list,” I said. “Who?” I rubbed the corners of my eyes with my fingertips. “People who say ‘sorry’ after everything. Fast-food commercials. And Jessica Campbell..” (Brown.)

This is an example of exactly what went into The Hate List. But in the Love List everything is the opposite. Forget about the things you hate. In this case, forget about the fast food commercials. Think about what you do like. Who or what you can live without. That’s the whole idea of the Love List. Put away the bad stuff and instead focus on the things you love.

"One's my favorite number," Bea giggled. "The word won being the past tense of win, and we can all say at the end of the day that we've won once again, can't we? Some days making it to the end of the day is quite the victory."(Brown)

 

The Love List is all about the half glass full kind of thinking. Don’t focus on the negative things. Sure, the glass maybe half empty, but it’s also half full. There are always going to be people who don’t like you but I think it’s more worth your time if you think about the people who do. That’s kind of what Bea is talking about here. At the end of the day, if you are alive-you have won. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through as long as you make it through. Some days it is going to be a challenge. But at the end of the day you can say that you’ve won. That’s the kind of attitude this new product will hopefully inspire.

 

“The infamous Hate List. Started as a joke. A way to vent frustration.” (Brown)

Here’s where Val and Nick went wrong. Violence is never the answer. And Love List would solve that problem. Because, now you are focusing on the positive things. You aren’t letting the bad things get you down. This product will encourage teens to write down things they love. Kind of like a diary of sorts. Hopefully from this more teens will be inspired to adopt this new attitude.

This product will work because the readers of this book clearly know all the sorrow the Hate List caused. There were many drawbacks and It even destroyed Val’s life. Everyone viewed her as a criminal when in fact she only wrote a list. This product is for teens like Valarie. By purchasing this product and actually participating in writing the good things, it will take your mind off of the bad things. The reason that Val was so upset was partly because she spent so much time thinking of bad things to write down. Hopefully the Love List will help teens to ultimately change their lifestyle. They might begin to think more positively and it might even reduce depression. The main goal would be to reduce tragic events, like the ones in this book from ever happening. It should be a thing that people will enjoy doing. It will look somewhat like a notebook or a diary. On the cover it would have Jennifer Brown’s name and maybe some basic information about her. The Love list is a notebook with the words” Love List” monogrammed on the cover. It also comes with a pen.

 

 

 

The Hate List

So, I finished my book over break. It was eyeopening, like you never know what a person has been through when you look at them. I have to say though, I didnt really like the ending. I would have liked to know more, the ending seemed pretty abrupt. The whole story was crafted well. It;s an interesting read with a couple of plot twists.Sometimes, the story was vauge and this annoyed me. I would have really wanted to know why her boyfriend decided to shoot people.