The book begins with Angel arriving at Room 6 of the Lonely Motel and phoning an escort service. He hires Shyla – a plus sized prostitute. What follows is one of the most disgusting, beautiful, awful, heartbreaking, f**ked-up, sexually depraved stories I have ever read and I absolutely loved it! Andrea O'Reilly, 'Redemptive Mothering: Reclamation, Absolution and Deliverance in Emma Donoghue's Room and The Wonder,' in Writing Mothers: Narrative Acts of Care, Redemption, and Transformation, ed. BettyAnn Martin and Michelann Parr (Bradford, ON: Demeter, 2020), pp.141-66 Room is all his real world.. it doesn't even has windows, just a skylight.. that's all what he can see of outside. And how the victims suffer under the danger of miscarriage, having a probably disabled kid by their own brother, uncles, fathers, grandfathers, cousins,… and never seeing the light of day. The disturbed monsters who do that combine some of the worst crimes such as slavery, rape, and probably sometimes murder to satisfy whatever this perversion is and where it may come from.

Woom is enthralling from the very beginning. Ralston’s cleverly tells the story in dribs and drabs that feel disconnected. All the while, Angel promises a mysterious conclusion, constantly referring to his fresh start in the same room where it had all begun. The best thing about Woom is that not only does it build-up this conclusion throughout the novel, but it really delivers. The conclusion is surprising, whilst still realistically built up by the novel. At the same time, it’s more disturbing and horrifying than the rest of the book. Marisol Morales Ladrón,‘Psychological Resilience in Emma Donoghue’s Room,’ in National Identities and Imperfections in Contemporary Irish Literature: Unbecoming Irishness,ed. Luz Mar González-Árias (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), pp.83-98. Sara Martín-Ruiz (University of the Balearic Isles), ‘Emma Donoghue’s Room: Perspectives from Direct Provision’, paper delivered at conference on Irish Shame, Buffalo NY, 2018 Renate Brosch, Stuttgart University, ‘Narrativity and Visualisation: Narrative Beginnings as Attention’, paper delivered at International Conference on Narrative (York, 2013)

Book Summary

Ahlam Ahmed Mohamed Othman, ' Truth in Fiction is Truth Infection: A Study of Emma Donoghue’s Room, ' Studi Irlandesi 13 (July 2023)

I’m so happy to see Emma Donoghue was the screenwriter who adapted her own book to big screen. With the powerful performances that reflected the emotional depths of the characters, we realistically resonate with the compelling traumatic situation the mother and her child are getting through. Maybe this kid is annoying because he doesn't know anything outside Room. Maybe he's immature because of his seclusion. Maybe this. Maybe that. I don't want to have to make excuses for the book's shortcomings.

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In other words, it’s a genuinely good novel. Dark, repulsive, disgusting, and depressing, but good. Whether the same can be said for the next novel I’m here to discuss is something I’m still trying to figure out. Succulent Prey by Wrath James White Suffice it to say that I’m going to be discussing some pretty repulsive subject matter here, as well as full spoilers for both books. If you’re sensitive to topics like psychological trauma, mutilation, abortion, cannibalism, and sexual trauma, I’d recommend not reading this article. Room takes its basic plot from the Fritzl case as well as the cases of Jaycee Lee Dugard in California and of Natascha Kampusch and Sabine Dardenne. But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.