Room: A Stolen Story or a Masterpiece?

Irish writer Emma Donoghue’s Room has achieved much recognition after it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010. It is a novel inspired by the horrific true story of Elizabeth Fritzl’s life as a prisoner in her father’s basement, which surfaced in the national news in late 2008. After reading the book I decided to research Fritzl’s case to see how closely the novel linked with it. I found that while some aspects of Room were of Donoghue’s own creation, many of them were taken from the non-fictional tale. One of the episodes in Room that springs to mind is when their captor, named Old Nick, turns off all power to their living space, which is something that Fritzl’s father also did to her and her children. This raised a question in my mind: is Room a stolen story or is it a simply a great example of fiction?

There’s no denying that the book is good. Both characters are very well developed. It tells the story through the eyes of Jack, a boy who turns five at the beginning. Through his eyes there are occasional bouts of humour and the simplicity of a five-year-old imagination. There are things Jack describes that he obviously does not understand but are blindingly obvious to the reader. The novel would have been a completely different story had it been told though his mother, Ma’s, eyes – it would have been far more haunting, much more depressing and probably less enjoyable.

The pair live in Room. Ma has been there since she was nineteen and Jack was born there. Jack views Outside as being like outer space and refers to inanimate objects as if they are living, breathing creatures, showing how little of the world he has seen. The book has its negatives, one of which is how predictable it is. It goes without saying that they escape, but then again I can’t think of any other way the story could evolve. On the positive side of this, Donoghue cleverly plans out her narrative. The first few days of Jack’s five-year-old life are described in a very detailed manner, making them seem dull and drawn out. This emphasises how shocking and complicated the outside world is for Jack once they have escaped.

On the negative side, while it’s good book and a good storyline, I think there were a few too many things just thrown in for extra effect that weren't really necessary. For example, the idea and descriptions of Jack still breastfeeding seemed irrelevant and awkward. There was an attempt at explaining it but to me it just seemed like Donoghue was just trying to make them extra out-of-this-world and out of the norm, in a way it felt like she was dehumanising them. Maybe Jack had never seen the world outside Room but Ma had, making it seem very unbelievable. While it is one of the original ideas Donoghue had, I don’t think it’s successful.

Bottom line: it’s a book worth reading but I find it derogatory to use Elizabeth Fritzl’s life as means of making a living. I feel like it had too many close ties to Fritzl’s case and Donoghue could have left out the little things like the power cut, or better yet thought of something original instead, and I would have a lot more respect for her and Room. A story inspired by Fritzl’s case would have been okay – a person kidnapped and trapped in a room. There are attempts to differentiate the stories: the room is in the garden and not the basement and Ma is not her captor’s daughter. It’s the little things that made the difference for me and unfortunately that has brought the book down in my opinion of it.