Letter Essay 5 – Syrine Karm

Not too long ago, I finished a book called Room by Emma Donoghue. It is a novel and it was published in 2010. The book won GoodReads Choice Awards Best Fiction and an international best-seller. Her book went viral and she decided to make a movie about it.

Emma Donoghue is an Irish-Canadian author . She was born in 1969 which makes her about 49 years old today. Her partner is Christine Roulston and she has two kids. I chose this book because the cover looked good and I heard about Emma Donoghue and I wanted to see for myself if she was a good author.

The story is told from the perspective of a five year old, Jack. Jack has lived his whole life in Room with Ma. Room is a small room with only the necessities: a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, a wardrobe and a living room with a small TV. Jack thinks that the world is room and that the only people that exist are Ma and himself. And that everything seen on TV is fake. Jack knows about one more person, Old Nick. Old Nick comes every other day and brings them food and something that is called Sunday Treat. But Jack doesn’t know that Old Nick kidnapped Ma when she was 19 and rapes Ma. one day, Ma learns that Old Nick lost his job and has less and less money. She suspects that before he lets them free, he will kill them. So Ma decides to come with a plan, it was a hard choice but she had to because as a mother she would do anything for her kid. She makes Jack look very sick and then she tells Old Nick that he needs to go to a hospital to get the proper help but he doesn’t want to risk them saying anything so he disagrees to bringing Jack to a hospital. Ma then pretends that Jack died and that Old NIck has to bury him in a forest. Of course playing dead isn’t that easy so she raps Jack around with Rug. Before actually following the plan, they rehearse the part where Jack has to crawl out of Rug and the part where Jack has to run to someone. They rehearse until it is perfect. The day comes where they will actually do it, Jack is very nervous and doesn’t want to do but Ma has dreamed about it her whole time in Room so she begs Jack to do it. He agrees. Old Nick comes, takes Rug where Jack is and actually believes that he is dead. He puts him his truck and starts driving. Jack crawls out of Rug but struggles a lot. Then he remembers the plan and when the truck is at a stop he jumps and begins to run. Old Nick sees him run and gets out of the truck and runs after him. He slowly catches up to him and Jack can’t see anyone to protect him. He runs as fast as he can, he doesn’t even has shoes on and that is when…

I loved how the author created Jack, a five year old boy who doesn’t know anything about the real world and is so innocent. The story feels so real and when you read you connect to it. You have pity for Jack and Ma and you have this anger in you towards Old Nick for doing everything he does to Ma. You feel sorry and tell yourself that it is horrible. There might not be a real Jack and real Ma in the world but there is definitely people like them who got kidnapped and get raped. This story is actually based on a five year old, felix in the Fritzl case.

The genre of this book is drama and thriller and I agree with that but with everything that happens to Ma and Jack,I would put it under horror as well. It might be an exaggeration because you aren’t really scared but everything that happens to them is horrible and I would never wish that on someone even if I hated them.

My favorite part of this book is when Jack and Ma are having a good time. Jack is innocent and Ma isn’t worried. Even for that split second Ma would give anything for it. Has a mother, you are always worried about your child or children but when it comes to Ma she has even more to worry about. She needs to protect Jack from Old Nick because she loves him and hates Old Nick. It makes the whole story real when you read about how happy she is around her kid, I mean that is real life. I think Emma Donoghue really connected to the story because she has kids of her own and would probably do anything for them.

I really liked this book and I would rate it a 8/10. I would recommend it to people who love to connect to a story and to people who love drama.

Sincerely,

Syrine.

P.S:

I found this trailer of the movie Room so here is the link.

 

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4 thoughts on “Letter Essay 5 – Syrine Karm

  1. Dear Syrine Karm,
    You did a really good jo with summarizing the book. I’ve been looking at this book, and thinking about reading it. And now that you have really described, and explained the book to me, I am actually interested in reading it. I think that reflecting on the book is really important to do. And now that you have given your thought into it, and what you think about it…I think I just might read that book.
    -Maye Stichter

  2. Dear Syrine,

    I enjoyed reading your letter essay. It is great how you connected to the story, you had some awesome thinking! I saw you reading this book during Home Room, but I never knew how deep (and dark) the story really was. Your letter essay is great!

    Sincerely,
    Elizabeth

  3. Dear Syrine,

    I enjoyed reading your letter essay I lot! I loved the way that you explained the summary of your book, and also your thinking and reflection about it. I can tell that this book teaches a lot of life lessons. Thank you for sharing this essay with us!

    Sincerely,
    Bianca

  4. Dear Syrine,

    I really liked your letter essay and how you explained your story of the book. I you had dialogue and it was really interesting to read.

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