It is Jack's fifth birthday. When he was four, he lived in Room, slept in Bed, ate on Table and played with Ma. He had five book with pictures and five without. He had a few various toys that were made of things such as cans and toilet paper rolls. Ma is Jack's whole world and he is hers. When he is five, everything changes. Ma has another name, many things he thought were just TV are real, outside Room and Skylight is not Outer Space. He thought he know who he was and who Ma was but now everything is confusing. He uses this quote from Alice in Wonderland to describe his confusion, "I hardly know, sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."
It is hard to review this book without giving too much away. It is told from the point of view of a five year old boy. The first part is Jack describing his life in room to us. The last half is Jack's discovery of the outside world. Through his eyes we make all kinds of discoveries, such as "bees and humans should just wave, no touching." We get to feel his first encounter with wind and rain. We get to feel the frustration as he tries to figure out stairs and pulp and all kinds of other things that were previously part of Outer Space.
It is a gripping, funny, disturbing, emotional, philosophical book. At one point Jack thinks, "When I was four I thought everything in TV was just TV, then I was five and Ma unlied about lots of it being pictures of real and outside being totally real. Now I'm outside but it turns out lots of it isn't real at all. Lots of the world seems to be a repeat." It will make you laugh, cry and think. I finished the book two days ago and haven't stopped thinking about it since. I recommend it to all adults.
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