Room, a novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue portrays the struggle of a 26-year-old woman with her five-year-old son, both of which are trapped in a small shed in the back of the woman’s captor’s home. Room is soundproofed with thick insulation and has multiple locks to get through before getting out or in.

The story is told through the eyes of the five-year-old boy named Jack. Because his mother was only a nineteen-year-old college student when she was captured and raped by “Old Nick”, as they call him, he was born in captivity, so Room is all he has ever known. He has names for everything in this little shed he calls home, all of which Donoghue capitalizes, because to Jack, these objects are as human as he is.

The novel tells of Ma’s reluctance to tell Jack about the world outside the four walls. She raises him as best she can, asking for medicines when he needs them as well as toys and treats for “Sunday Treat”. Jack and Ma have a daily routine which includes exercise, brain games, short amounts of TV watching, as well as healthy foods and physical and dental hygiene. All the things they need to maintain this lifestyle brought to them by Old Nick, who makes a habit of raping Ma when he comes around.

Eventually, Ma has had enough, and she devises a plan to escape. She tells Old Nick that Jack has died after a bout of sickness, and so she rolls him up Cleopatra-style in a rug, which Old Nick then puts into the back of his brown truck and drives to bury him out in the country. Jack, however, was not actually dead. He wiggles out of the carpet and out of the car, running until he finds a man with his daughter walking a dog. He explains his situation as Old Nick comes back to get him. Old Nick grows wary and leaves, letting Jack tell the rest of his and Ma’s story and thus leading the police to his mother, who let her out of her cage.

The rest of the novel tells of the struggle in assimilating a 5-year-old to modern day society, as well as his mother’s struggles with reconnecting with her family, who had lost all hope of finding her. Jack has problems with boundaries and social norms, as well as accepting that there are other things outside of Room. At times, he wishes he could go back. Ma’s fight to become normal again almost ends with a suicide attempt.

There were some odd parts to the novel, including Jack’s most comforting ritual: sucking on his mother’s rotten tooth. Also, when his mother was present, he would ask to breast feed at the “mature” age of 5. Due to the lack of vitamins and minerals that Jack had while in Room, breast milk was the only way to get him the nutrients he needed, as well as securing the emotional bond between mother and son. Ma and Jack were all each other had in the world.

Room is a tale of struggle, hope, and ultimately freedom. It tells of a mother’s intense love for her son, one who was willing to risk her own life to protect her child and give him the best life she could possibly give him under the circumstances.

Room has also become a major motion picture and came out in theaters November 6.