Emma Donoghue: Room

'Room'

'Room' is a novel by Irish-Canadian writer Emma Donoghue. Published in 2010, it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, became an international best seller and is described as 'claustrophobic, controversial [and] brilliant'. It's been a book that I'd been meaning to read for a couple of years but had never gotten round to buying a copy, so I was particularly glad when I finally managed to get my hands on it.

'Room' is the story of Jack, a 5 year-old boy who lives with his Ma in a single locked room containing a small kitchen, bath and toilet, wardrobe, bed and TV set. At the beginning of the book, Jack, having never experienced anything else, believes that he, Ma, Room and the things it contains are 'real', whilst the rest of the world only exists in television. Unwilling to disappoint Jack with knowledge of a life she cannot give him, Ma does not correct him. Instead, she tries to keep him happy and healthy, both mentally and physically, by limiting TV time, eating well-balanced meals, exercising, and maintaining good physical & oral hygiene. The only other person Jack ever sees is 'Old Nick', who visits Room whilst Jack is asleep in the wardrobe, bringing supplies and talking to Ma.

Jack is the narrator of the piece and we see his world through his eyes. Due to his youth, it isn't immediately obvious how or why Jack and Ma live in this single room, though it is instantly clear that something is wrong. And we're right; it's soon revealed that Old Nick kidnapped Ma when she was nineteen years old and has kept her imprisoned in Room for the past seven years; Jack is the product of Old Nick's unwanted advances on her. 

The book is a story of 2 halves, with the first half detailing the routine of Jack and Ma's lives in Room, before their eventual escape. Their lives are mundane and repetitive, but through Jack, Donoghue manages to make it that the book doesn't feel so to the reader. The escape itself happens in the middle of the novel - perhaps a strange place for what could be seen as the climax of the book - and it ran away from me a little bit (no pun intended). It was heart-stopping, but seemed a little contrived. After the escape, we see Jack's first few weeks in 'Outside' and his discomfort at leaving behind everything he knew and its perceived safety. This section of the book is both funny and agonising as Jack realises that the world doesn't consist of just him and Ma. 

With such a horrific initial setting, 'Room' could easily have turned into voyeuristic piece of torture fiction, but the result is surprisingly tender and moving. The use of Jack's innocent perspective is a marvel - his childlike observations reveal the sinister nature of his and Ma's situation without having to bear the weight of it's horror, making the subject matter strangely bearable and the reader able to focus on other aspects of the story. It's testament to Donoghue's writing skill that she was able to convincingly maintain the childlike tone of the narration all the way through the book and create a story that is full of humour despite it's bleak context. There are small niggles; Jack's naivete in the second half of the book as he begins to interact with the world and observe other people in it sometimes move into adult satire, but this is a minor gripe.

Other than Jack's narration, one of the most amazing facets of the book is the character of Ma and the relationship she and Jack have, as two people who only have each other. Ma is the ultimate hero, strong and resilient in the face of suffering, striving to do the best she can for her son, including giving in to Old Nick to ensure Jack's safety. Though, she is only human, and does understandably give into her despair on occasion. The book celebrates the relationship between mother and child, and it's interesting to see how Jack and Ma's relationship changes once they have left the claustrophobia of Room; Ma tries to regain a sense of herself outside of being a mother, whilst Jack struggles with the idea that there are other demands on Ma's time and that she has needs outside of him.

'Room' is an utterly compelling read, and though the subject matter is difficult, the book is never depressing. Instead, it is entirely hopeful and speaks of the resilience of the human spirit. Definitely recommended.

8/10.

S J Watson: Before I go to Sleep

'Before I go to Sleep'

Imagine waking up every morning not knowing who you are. Imagine that someone else has to remind you of your identity, your past and the people you love, every single day. What if they aren't telling you the truth?

That's the premise of my most recent read, Before I go to Sleep by S J Watson.

The book begins with it's protagonist, Christine Lucas, waking up in bed with a strange man. Carefully extricating herself from him, Christine heads for the bathroom, and is horrified to find that the face in the mirror is much older than it ought to be. The man in the bed wakes and introduces himself as Ben, her husband of 20 years, and patiently explains that she was in a car accident which resulted in a severe and rare case of amnesia, something she will forget all over again once she falls asleep.

On the advice of the Doctor she has been seeing behind Ben's back, Christine has been keeping a journal, though Dr Nash has to call her everyday to remind her where it is. In an attempt to link one day to the next, Christine records her daily movements, conversations and the memories they trigger, and begins to piece together her life before the accident. Her journal gives a very different explanation to the one her husband has been telling her, and even more disturbing are the three words inscribed at the very front of her journal: 'DON'T TRUST BEN'.

The concept of the book is great and I loved the air of suspicion, confusion and desperation it instilled not only in Christine, but also myself. Towards the end, I read the book so quickly that I had to go back and read it again. So urgent was my need to find out the truth that my eyes flew over the pages, only absorbing the main details and not taking any notice of the writing style and pacing. And it was certainly worth the re-read.

Before I go to Sleep is a clever psychological thriller, filled with twists and turns which keep the reader in a state of flux. I thought I had the plot nailed down a number of times only to change my mind and then be proven entirely wrong at the end. You never quite know who or what to believe, and Christine is about as unreliable a narrator as they come, partly due to the majority of the novel's narrative coming from her journal, the validity of which she consistently questions, and, as it turns out, has been heavily edited by Ben. But of course, we don't find that out until later.

I really liked how the book's narrative was arranged, moving from present-day to Christine's journal as she rediscovers it, each entry bringing us ever closer to the truth of her situation and the circumstances that caused it. The journal sections were sometimes repetitive to read, but that is most likely intentional; Christine would have been unable to remember writing any of the previous entries and would have recorded her thoughts and feelings as if they were new to her. 

I did have a slight issue with the very end of the novel, after the shocking, violent confrontation. Christine begins to regain some of her memory, newly able to recall sections of her past which had previously been lost to her; her Doctor suggests that having experienced another trauma might be reversing the effects of the first one, to some extent. To me, that just sounds implausible, but as Watson is the one that worked in the NHS, I shan't argue. Luckily, he avoids a fairytale ending: the book closes with Christine falling asleep, not knowing whether her improving memory is permanent, or whether she will wake up as she has done for the past 20 years - with no recollection of who or where she is.

The story is not without it's flaws, as one would expect from a first novel, but they are minor and didn't impact on the story or my enjoyment of it. Overall, a brilliantly gripping début from S J Watson. I'm looking forward to reading more from him.

8/10.

Robert Galbraith: The Cuckoo's Calling

'The Cuckoo's Calling'

When it first came out that J.K. Rowling had written a book - The Cuckoo's Calling - under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, I wasn't all that bothered. I'd been a massive fan of the Harry Potter books (after a year or so of refusing to read them - they were popular and therefore not for me and my refined 9-year-old tastes), but that J.K. Rowling was their author was just one of those things. So when A Casual Vacancy came out, followed by Cuckoo and The Silkworm under the name Galbraith, why would I be interested? They weren't even the same genre of fiction.

Having just read Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, I was on a bit of a thriller/crime kick so when I came across Cuckoo on the shelves in Oxfam (along with SJ Watson's Before I Go To Sleep and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaiden's Tale - reviews forthcoming), I thought 'Why not?'.

Why not indeed. In fact, I can't give you any reasons not to read The Cuckoo's Calling, there are just so many which suggest you should. Ultimately, this is a brilliant old-school detective novel.

The book follows ex-military policeman turned private detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates the apparent suicide of supermodel Lula Landry at the request of her brother. Beautiful, but troubled, Lula's suicide seems like an open-and-shut case, what with the history of drug abuse and the rocky relationship with a known bad-boy, but as Strike begins to look closer at the events that surrounded that night, he begins to suspect foul play. (Hint: he's right.)

The plot is well thought out and intricately & cleverly planned, filled with little revelations which at the time seem insignificant but can either end up having a serious implications or be complete red-herrings. The pace of the book is perfect; as Strike moves through the book interviewing witness and collecting testimonies he begins to get a picture of what happened to Lula, something which remains a mystery to the reader until the very end of the book. Some have criticised the explanatory ending, where Strike details how he put the clues together and confronts the killer with his findings, but I rather enjoyed it. Having been totally in the dark throughout the book, I liked hearing and recalling where each bit of evidence came from and following Strike's thought process. 

The book is also subtly funny, with sly jabs at social commentary. Lula's birth mother is money-grabbing and out to sell her story (probably to the Daily Mail) and her tortured boyfriend is almost a Pete Doherty parody, though he turns out to be more complex and sympathetic than one expects.

In fact, all of Cuckoo's characters are well rounded and intricately detailed - Strike, though the bastard son of a rock star, has only met his famous father twice and feels out of his depth in the moneyed world he's thrust in to. Despite his size - he's 'a lumbering bear of a man' - and military background, he uses his wits, rather than physical intimidation, to solve the case. His secretary, Robin, though meticulous and precise, is surprisingly resourceful, and as a newly-engaged girl with a solid relationship, is the perfect female companion for Strike, the victim of an obsessive and almost abusive partnership with ex-fiancé, Charlotte. We even learn a great deal about Lula as a person, rather than just a body on a slab, through her emails and the remembrances of her friends and colleagues. Despite being somewhat spoiled, Lula is a girl searching for a family to accept her for who she is, rather than what she represents or how much money she earns.

The Cuckoo's Calling was a pleasure to read, and happily the first in a series of Cormoran Strike crime novels, the next instalment being The Silkworm, released in 2014. I will certainly be looking out for it, and recommend you do too.

8/10.