50 books...
41) Room - Emma Donahue
The first half of this book was a difficult read for me, due to personal background issues and triggers. That said, I suspect most people will either love it, or hate it. At times, I did both.
The book has become famous enough now, that I suspect most people know the basics: Jack is just turning five, and has grown up entirely in a single room with his mother. They are kept there by a man who Jack only knows as "Old Nick".
Being given the world and the story through Jack's eyes is the "twist" to this one. We know that for his mother, this experience must be agonizing and harrowing - for seven years, she has been held captive and forced to be a sexual object for this man. For Jack, however, this simply is what the world is. It is well-established in the first parts of the book that his life has had structure and routine, that his mother is doing her best to raise a child who will not be emotionally or physically crippled by his lack of contact with the world, and yet who will also be able to live within the constraints of the world he has been given.
Of course, as we all know, children grow up. They start to ask questions, start to become more than just extensions of their parents - they begin to individuate. This process is what provides the impetus for change in Jack's world.
I fear to say much more, as I do not want to spoil it for those who have not read the book. I will say that Donahue does an excellent job of conveying how "normal" can become very personal, and how changing the concept of what "normal" is can be so very difficult. I would highly recommend this book for any professional who deals with trauma and abuse as a reminder of what the world might look like through our clients' eyes and why it can be so difficult to help them change.
The first half of this book was a difficult read for me, due to personal background issues and triggers. That said, I suspect most people will either love it, or hate it. At times, I did both.
The book has become famous enough now, that I suspect most people know the basics: Jack is just turning five, and has grown up entirely in a single room with his mother. They are kept there by a man who Jack only knows as "Old Nick".
Being given the world and the story through Jack's eyes is the "twist" to this one. We know that for his mother, this experience must be agonizing and harrowing - for seven years, she has been held captive and forced to be a sexual object for this man. For Jack, however, this simply is what the world is. It is well-established in the first parts of the book that his life has had structure and routine, that his mother is doing her best to raise a child who will not be emotionally or physically crippled by his lack of contact with the world, and yet who will also be able to live within the constraints of the world he has been given.
Of course, as we all know, children grow up. They start to ask questions, start to become more than just extensions of their parents - they begin to individuate. This process is what provides the impetus for change in Jack's world.
I fear to say much more, as I do not want to spoil it for those who have not read the book. I will say that Donahue does an excellent job of conveying how "normal" can become very personal, and how changing the concept of what "normal" is can be so very difficult. I would highly recommend this book for any professional who deals with trauma and abuse as a reminder of what the world might look like through our clients' eyes and why it can be so difficult to help them change.