Woom

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The world is always changing brightness and hotness and soundness, I never know how it’s going to be the next minute.”

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 MarcelaChmelinová , ‘EmmaDonoghue : Room– Translation and Analysis’ (BA thesis, University of Masaryk, 2012) It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them.' Claustrophobic, controversial, brilliant… inventive, tense, and stringently intelligent.’ - Macleans

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Also everywhere I'm looking at kids, adults mostly don't seem to like them, not even the parents do. They call the kids gorgeous and so cute, they make the kids do the thing all over again so they can take a photo, but they don't want to actually play with them, they'd rather drink coffee talking to other adults. Sometimes there's a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn't even hear.” The book is actually not that bad. You get a decent plot twist toward the end and some pretty bizarre situations, but that’s about it. Was it weird? Yeah, sure. Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. Moynagh Sullivan, 'Lactation, Lactation, Lactation: Places, Bodies and In Between in Emma Donoghue's Room,' paper delivered at betweenbodies/bodiesbetween conference, National University of Ireland, Maynooth (2013)

In terviewed by Harriett Gilbert on BBC World Service’s The Strand, 12 August 2010: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p008zrbp/The_Strand_The_Strand_Thursday_12th_August_2010/An article I wrote ten years after Room: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/may/08/emma-donoghue-on-writing-room-i-toned-down-some-of-the-horror-of-the-fritzl-case 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. About the book: The Lonely Motel holds many dark secrets... and Room 6 just might possess the worst of them all. Putti Aisyah and Hujuala Rika Ayu, 'Negotiating Motherhood in Constraining Space in Emma Donoghue's Room,' Paradigm 2 (2): 83, November 2019, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337692177_NEGOTIATING_MOTHERHOOD_IN_CONSTRAINING_SPACE_IN_EMMA_DONOGHUE'S_ROOM

I respect the author’s choice to write a dark-themed story narrated entirely from the perspective of a five year old boy. While the unreliable narrator is nothing new in literature, its deployment here felt fresh and so I give points for that. And in the same breath, I have to warn any potential reader, if you can't get past the sex in the story, this book will just gross you out - it is best left to the people who can stomach it. This book is not for people with any type of triggers that cannot handle extreme graphic situations. I would recommend this to hard core horror fans that have stomachs made of steel! I had to literally read this in small doses as it was a rough read and I do believe that it is the most twisted story I have ever read. With all that being said I am giving this book four "Motel Madness" stars!In Room me and Ma had time for everything. I guess the time gets spread very thin like butter all over the world, the roads and houses and playgrounds and stores, so there's only a little smear of time on each place, then everyone has to hurry on to the next bit....”

Well, officer, he was kind of quiet. Always kept to himself. Still can’t believe what he did in that shed. Who could have known that’s what he was doing out there?” I can’t imagine anyone not knowing the basic plot of Room, but for those who don’t, the book was inspired by the true story of Elisabeth Fritzl, an Austrian woman who had been imprisoned in her father’s basement for twenty-four years, during which time he repeatedly assaulted and raped her. She eventually bore him seven children and had one miscarriage. Three of her children, one daughter and two sons had been imprisoned with their mother for the whole of their lives (until rescue).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. Oh, give me a break! What five-year-old speaks like that, let alone one who exclusively converses with an adult? How Sad we're judging people without a clue of their own lives.. It's really sad.. and how Crazy and obsessed people are sometimes.. Woom” by Duncan Ralston is just one of those short stories you have to read it to believe it. I love horror as it’s my favorite genre to read but when it comes to extreme horror, this one definitely pushes the envelopes to realms that will definitely offend readers. The plot description for Woom is rather vague, with it simply stating that Room 6 of a place called the Lonely Motel has experienced seriously dark things, and that the two characters who occupy it both have their own troubled pasts. Angel hires a sex worker named Shyla, and tells her stories of bad things that supposedly happened in room 6 while masturbating her with sex toys. Each chapter is a conversation between the two, and Shyla has a couple of stories of her own to share. But as the night goes on, it becomes clear that something isn’t right with Angel, who seems less interested in Shyla as a means of sexual gratification.