Shelf Life: "Room" by Emma Donoghue

I read "Room" (2010) by Emma Donoghue on the plane ride from Bangkok to Manila and I wished that flight was long enough for me to finish the book in one sitting. Right on its first few pages, "Room" has definitely the power to grab you into the world of its 5-year old narrator, Jack, whose life is contained in a tiny room he shares with his mom. Jack's naivety in the midst of horror is at once heart-warming and tragic at the same time.

The Washington Post calls it "one of the most affecting and subtly profound novels of the year", while the New York Times says it is "sophisticated in outlook and execution". "Room" was listed for a slew of citations and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writer's Prize.