... you'd think it would be "they lived happily ever after". NOPE GOTCHA Ma tries to kill herself and Jack burns from the light. Evidently, it's not that simple... but still, even with all these events, I'd say that it was a good idea to get out of Room (yea no sh*t). To be honest though, I'm really impressed with Jack's ability to adapt to the change in environment -- not only is it just so much larger than his previous world (which he even noted himself when he goes back to take a look at Room), he never really had to adapt to anything before since it was just Room. Speaking of Room, I'm not 100% sure why he wants to go back... maybe just to compare his previous world to his current one? Maybe it's just to remember where he came from? Either way he casts it away and was like "nope cya" -- it was kinda cute though when he says good bye to all of the furniture (also what exactly is "Eggsnake"? I never really got it -- if it's actually some kind of snake, why is it still in there... or is it a bunch of eggs put together to look like a snake? If Jack talked about it somewhere, I think I accidentally skipped over it...). He even cut his hair! Obviously he has grown a lot.
Also kudos to (step) grandpa and grandma -- ESPECIALLY grandpa. Steppa was just so chill, while Jack's biological grandpa can't stand to look at him. I mean I kind of get the logic, that Jack's biological grandpa (we're not given a name I don't think) imagines the horror done onto his daughter whenever he sees the "product", while Steppa doesn't (since they're not biologically related) -- but like common Jack's a little kid give him a chance... but nope he just flies back to Australia. Great. Steppa actually parents him though -- covering him when he almost got caught messing with matches, and quieting him down (by throwing him and giving him pie to enjoy while watching a game lol) when grandma was about to explode.
Anyhow, I hope Ma recovers from her severe PTSD, and Jack assimilates to his new world successfully. I wonder what the film would be like -- I feel like a lot of the feeling I get from reading Room can't be conveyed well through motion pictures... but what would I know I don't do much film lol. I guess to wrap the whole year up, I'd say this book would be my favorite out of all of the ones we've read so far... or maybe Persepolis is... but it's pretty high up there. It's been fun guys!
I have also not seen the film Room, but I really really want to. I agree and also feel pretty proud of Jack for making such definite growth into the real world. Ma, because of her difference in the situation to Jack, will definitely need more time to recover, and that is totally understandable.
ReplyDeleteGood post, especially agree with the Grandparents section. I personally do appreciate the fact that Room didn't end in some kind of cop-out cheesy "they lived happily ever after" way (*cough* Odyssey *cough*), cuz that would feel just a little bit too convenient, you feel? Sure we can all hope for the best, but in the end life deals the cards, and sometimes you don't get the perfect hand. Quite frankly, I think we can appreciate the fact that things could have ended MUCH worse than they did.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Curtis (well, somewhat--the Odyssey's "Slaughter in the Halls" was quite a bit more epic than any other and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after ending I've read) that I appreciated that it didn't go much worse for them. Donoghue's ending was a nice balance of "crap the world is rough and confusing" and "freedom is wonderful, so glad to finally live my life."
ReplyDeleteI too really appreciated the ending. It felt very complete, but at the same time left much of the story of their recovery unwritten. It ends with the hope that comes from Jack finally letting go of the idea of Room, but does not really show how Jack fares in the long term.
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