The Book Worm Bookstore Book Club

Room by Emma Donaghue

Critics were enthralled by Donoghue's latest novel, inspired by the Josef Fritz case, in which an Austrian man locked his daughter in the basement for 24 years. Describing it as gripping, claustrophobic, and "fantastically evocative" (Washington Post), they also predicted that Room, recently short-listed for the Booker Prize, would appeal to a much larger audience than the author's previous fiction. On the other hand, several reviewers noted that Jack's understated anxiety in the book's second half didn't quite ring true, but they also acknowledged that the critique was "based on the very high standards set by the beauty of the book" (New York Times Book Review). As a thriller of sorts and a love story, Donoghue's novel is a stunning achievement. Or, as one critic put it, "Such a story, such a mother" (Entertainment Weekly). --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.