Room is a story narrated by Jack, who lives with his Ma in Room. Jack is five, and through his perspective, we come to understand that Ma was kidnapped by a man Jack refers to as "Old Nick" several years before. She has been held in Room and visited in the night by Old Nick. Eventually, she gave birth to Jack there, and has raised him as best she can in this tiny space.
The book is told in several parts, but it is divided mainly between the beginning, in which Jack and Ma are living in Room and after they escape, by having Jack play dead.
The author tells the story from Jack's perception, which is not narrow but is limited by his 5 years of only living in Room. He has no contact with the outside world, which he thinks of as everything in the television. People outside aren't real, buildings, other lives not held captive aren't real to Jack.
After coming out of Room, Jack is forced to confront a world in which he has no frame of reference at all, except in the one hour per day of television his Ma lets him watch. He is exposed to paparazzi, well-meaning, and not-so-well-meaning relatives, germs and just regular people who do things Jack cannot understand.
Despite this, it is Ma who has a much harder time reintegrating into the real world. She goes a little crazy, and Jack is forced to be without her for a time, something he has never had to experience in his life.
Room is a sad but hopeful story about the human condition. It is well written and telling it from Jack's perspective keeps it fresh as well as preventing the story from sinking into melodrama or maudlin territory. It does not, and the end of the tale is a hopeful one, we are hopeful that Jack will adapt to life outside of Room and become just like any other child in the world.
