The Girl in the Red Sweater

One of my friends posted a book rating today. She may even have reviewed it, but I didn’t notice. The thing that caught my eye was that she gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

I looked it up right away. It’s called Room: a novel. When I read the synopsis, I was scared but knew I had to read it. “Written from a 5 year old’s perspective. He grew up in an 11X11 foot cell with his mother.”

Let me just say that I don’t read books like this. My grip on emotion is fragile, and when I get exposed to something horrible, it can affect me for a long time. The only other book like this I’ve read was They Cage the Animals at Night. But I remembered that although that book was heartbreaking, it also told an important story that changed me.

It’s important to be exposed to bad things, so you can see how important the good things are. But I was still on the fence about reading a scary book.

I turned to Amazon reviews. One said, “It makes a parent want to be more kind with their words, more respectful of what their child’s needs are, and more understanding when things seem confusing;” another said it was important to know that the awful parts were not narrated, only alluded to. So I clicked, and there was “Room” on my Kindle.

It’s hard to gauge how far you are through a book on an iPhone. The Kindle app tells you what page you’re on, but it takes many screens to equal a page. This is the second book I’ve read in its entirety on my phone, and the first I’ve read all in one day.

The first chunk (half? maybe less?) of the book is a mixture of fear about what’s going on and joy at how the mother is raising the son. She comes up with endless ways to entertain the boy, and she teaches him so much. It was sad realizing the gravity of the situation, but it was also refreshing to see just how strong the bond between mother and son is.

The next two chunks are about attempted escape and what happens after.

If you’re brave enough, please go read the book now. For those who aren’t sure, here is a spoiler that should give you the strength to do it. Just pick a day when you have 5 or 6 hours, so you can run straight through.

SPOILER ALERT

The escape eventually succeeds. Once Ma and Jack were safe, I had to put the book down long enough to do a bit of work, but I picked it up again as soon as my critical task list was finished.

The last chunk of the book (which felt longer than the first two; it’s probably half the book) talks about how Ma and Jack react to being in the world again.

I was still riveted and more determined than ever to finish the book today. I got to a stopping point where the mother and son were adjusting and improving, then absolutely had to go pick up my son early from day care. I couldn’t stand another minute without him.

I took him to the pool for a treat, went to a meeting with him in tow, gave him extra cheese, and let him play with balloons in his bath. I held him for longer than usual after he fell asleep and finished the book with him in my arms.

To some who, like me, can hardly bear to read this kind of book, it’s important to know that everything is okay in the end. It’s not fairy-tale, unbelievable okay, but you leave the book with a sense of closure.

I’m glad my friend posted her book rating so that I could experience this book. It pushed me to experience something difficult, but I came out on the other side more thankful than ever of the simple pleasures in life. Especially cuddling with my sweet Wiggle Worm.