Room - Emma Donoghue

I didn't enjoy this book.  It was bleak (expected), but also creepy (not quite as expected).  This book tells the story of a mother and her five-year old son who are held captive.  The boy is actually fathered by the captor and has never set foot outside of their "room".

There are a number of reasons why I didn't enjoy this book, but two stand out.  First, I tend not to enjoy "stream of consciousness" books and perhaps because this book is narrated by the five year old, this is how the story is told.  I disliked We Need to Talk About Kevin for the same reasons (the narrative structure was really random).  I know that books narrated by children are often criticized because the child seems too old to be real.  After reading this book, I've decided that I quite like that style of narration and am willing to suspend disbelief in order to get a coherent narrative.  The other thing that I really disliked was the aforementioned creepiness.  I didn't like reading about the creepy results of being held captive, such as rotting teeth, blood stained carpets, and so on.  I am well aware that many adore this book and it was short-listed for the Booker.  Nonetheless, it simply was not for me.  It was oddly compelling enough for me to finish though, so points for that.