yana_okulik

Loved it. Full review here: http://nanarama.wordpress.com/2011/03... Excerpt: The story couldn't be simpler, but pulling off an entire narrative in a kid's voice is tricky and risks being cloying. This unsentimental writer captures the cadence and logic of childhood wonderfully. Yet throughout, even though the p.o.v. never shifts, we begin to watch the child as if we are the mother, feeling her fears and grief powerfully. In many ways, she's the book's soul, and her ferocity and extraordinary resourcefulness keep the proceedings from descending into bathos, horror, or sentimentality, all of which might potentially ooze near the subject like quicksand. The midpoint of the book is almost unbearably suspenseful; we know, just as she does, everything that can go wrong and desperately want it to go right. I cheered for this odd couple as if my life depended on it; not often that happens in a novel. Donoghue gives us exactly the right amount of time to experience each part of the story. She gracefully answered all the questions that came to my mind. I admit to a couple of minor disconnects in the narrative, rare moments where I was jarred out of the story, but they didn't jar hard enough to impact the power of the reading at large. With all kinds of potential to become something cuddly, Room retains a power to unsettle, to not go to easy places. The reading group with whom I read Slammerkin found the main character to be unsympathetic. That was exactly why I liked her. Donoghue is never afraid to keep it real. I think she's incapable of making it false.

2022-10-29 03:44