Room is an original and thought provoking book. Told from the point of view of just turning five Jack the language and view of the world is spot on. Jack uses childish names for things and I was curious as to why Room was capitalised and it took a long to find out. I tried to guess why Jack and his mum were confined in such a small space but I wasn’t close to the real reason.
As the story unfolds and we discover just how evil Old Nick is it is both horrifying and startling. As he describes some of the events in graphic detail it is stated so simply and innocently that the impact is more terrifying. Watching his emergence into the world is akin to a baby beginning it’s journey into the world but with the ability to eat, speak and count and so on. The wonder of everything and the confusion is touching and well described. This is particularly apparent when Jack panics when he sees car on the other side of the road and thinks they are all going to hit him until it is explained that cars use both sides of the road but don’t cross into each others paths.
Some of the events whilst totally believable, (Jacks mum’s suicide attempt) come out of nowhere and the characters are all seen through Jacks eyes. Getting used to the way other people such as Grandma and Steppa do things after so long with just his Mum show how big an adjustment he is having to make. The social adjustments from TV to real show how well his Mother has managed to shield Jack from the awful reality of his predicament but the toll on her is made apparent by both the physical ailments such as her teeth and her inability to interact with the world around her.
This is not a book that you ‘enjoy’, but it is a book that is worth reading, it is thought provoking and in the light of some recent news stories completely plausible. I would have loved to find out more about Jack and his adventures in the world which is always a sign of a good read, you leave your reader wanting more.
Month: May 2012
What’s the point?
This is a question one of the kids asked me the other day in response to a request to tidy their room! Of course that was far too time consuming them so instead we ended up having quite a detailed discussion.
‘What’s the point – it only gets dirty again’ she said.
I pointed out that by that logic I needn’t bother doing the washing, ironing, cooking or any of the other cleaning jobs as due to the nature of the house it gets dirty again or they get hungry again. I also pointed out that if that were the case maybe Mr T shouldn’t go to work, after all I am sure there are things he’d rather be doing and so we could live on beans on toast, wear dirty clothes and live in a box – needless to say she did go and tidy her room, but it seemed to get us both thinking about things that are important in life.
Later that day all the kids were sat in the living room glued to i-pods with various degrees of noise coming from them, I confiscated them and said that as the sun was actually shining we were going out to get a few bits and then we were going to make hanging baskets, after lots of moaning we made it to the DIY shop, got the stuff and in the end we did make the hanging baskets. To some extent they must have enjoyed it as Pixie delightedly told her teacher all about the yellow snapdragons this morning. It made me realise how different their growing up will be to mine.
For us we were out and about on our bikes with every opportunity or playing with friends, we’d walk to school and back on our own by the time we were about Hpop’s age without needing a mobile phone to track our whereabouts and we could survive until the next day without have to use facetime or the internet as they weren’t there for us to worry about. Don’t get me wrong I am Facebook, twitter affiliated and fully i-pod, i-phone etc functional and I won’t deny that on rainy days when they can’t agree what to do they can be a boon but we would have played board games, used our imaginations to play games or built lego. My children still do that but to a lesser degree, everyone is much more safety conscious and theses days children are much more protected. We are lucky in that we leave in a quiet bit of a cul-de-sac, so in some ways the kids do get a taste of how I grew up, able to play outside with the warning to stay in sight but usually pushing our luck and staying where we could hear ourselves being called, of course we didn’t think about any possible dangers but we had fun.
This week we had a crisis when the very old X-box finally creaked to a halt, cue lots of hysteria and how imp and Hpops couldn’t possibly cope without it. I must admit I was peeved, Mr T was away and despite my efforts to find a cure it was after a variety of tests pronounced no longer working. In the end to preserve both my sanity and Matthew’s a new one was procured and again it reminded me how much things have changed, I still remember the good old spectrums! Then it occurred to me that the time I spent playing on that, and the time I was thrilled when my Dad taught me to get an old dragon computer to type my name 10 times isn’t so different from the pleasure they get from finishing a game on the X-box or i-pod! Technology may have moved on but the feelings are the same.
What I most want for my kids is for them to be happy, I haven’t got it worked out what I want them to do as I don’t think it is up to me to tell them. I hope that we can give them all the opportunities they need to find out what they are good at, what they enjoy and that somewhere between the two they can work out something that will make them happy. At the moment Hpops wants to be a teacher, a writer, a famous (that word again) and a dancer, imp wants to be a racing car driver, a fireman and a policeman and Pixie wants to be a fairy princess and a mummy! I’m sure they’ll change their minds several times but for the moment we’ll keep letting Hpops go riding and Imp will be karting for his birthday, as for Pixie, she has a dressing up box full of fairy wings and princess wings to keep her happy – the mummy bit can wait for a long time! As we drove to school and they decided to play cloud spotting I came full circle, I remember playing that game and loving making up stories about the shapes in the sky whilst trying to work out while they were there.
So in the end I guess I hope they come to realise that while tidying and cleaning may be boring they are necessary so we can enjoy the pleasures of play and family time and cloud spotting!
The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd
I enjoyed this book as it was quite different from most of the other books out there at the moment! Combining the grimy dockyards of Wapping and the exotic Jamaica.
The story combines a shipping expedition to collect slaves and the descriptions of the capture of the slaves and the treatment of them is detailed and disturbing making the title The English Monster very apt. What happens to Billy Ablass on one of these expeditions is startling and links the two parts of the story together.
Two centuries later someone is committing grisly murders, again the detail of these scenes is not for the faint hearted! Suspects come and a go but the lack of authority and the disarray of the magistrates make catching the one responsible more difficult. As slavery becomes outlawed it is driven underground, slave ships refitted or quietly sold on.
The Royal Society is holding secrets as well, and has been for some time, it is only when the unofficial investigation of Horton takes decisive action that the true horror from both sides is put to rest. The detail in the book is credible and informative and the characters vivid. The sense of the different environments in which the characters find themselves in are vibrant and captivating, this may not be an ‘easy’ read in the sense of the subject matter but it will make you think and is definitely worth a look.(less)
What next?
This little phrase when coupled with three kids could mean almost anything but in this instance it actually refers to me! The marathon is over and although I am still running a few times a week I am in the position of fitting it in around my life rather than fitting my life around the running! Not only that nut Pixie goes to school full time in September, so once I have survived the onslaught of the summer holidays I will in a way be a free agent.
For some this might seem their idea of heaven but after four years of looking after the kids and running around like a looney I know I’ll need something to do. Whilst running and housework can account for some of the time and the trips up to the school for music lessons and meetings as well as helping in the library and with swimming I feel I need something else to do. As a result I have been looking for something part time, feeling this would give me the best work/life balance. It then occurred to me however that this would mean having someone to pick the kids up and drop them off as well as be there for any other training days and so on probably resulting in more hassle than pleasure.
I can pick up the writing again but this can in a way be rather isolating – it is difficult to talk to other people when you’re engrossed in your own little world and whilst I do want to pick the writing back up again as well as try to catch Heather up on piano as she is now way ahead of me, I still felt I could do with ‘something.’ I considered supply teaching but even there the hours would not be compatible with the kids hours so more stress. As a result the only think I could thing was to do some voluntary work, preferably at the kids school, although not with my own ones so that I can at least get myself up to date and get back into the idea of being in the class room.
I also wanted to pick up me study as I would love to train as an education psychologist but need to finish my courses so from September I am hoping to do a couple of days in school, a couple of days of writing and some study, – I guess that should keep me nice and busy as well as keeping the house clean, doing some exercise and trying to review books as they get sent to me! That way playing the piano and cross stitch can become hobbies as well providing I am not too tired! This should result in me being more stimulated and satisfied and therefore more helpful to the children rather than us all taking each other for granted.
The summer term is now in full swing and as we approach June the list of events to observe or participate in is growing rapidly – sports day, swimming galas, dance shows and parents evening just to name but a few as well as trips for all the kids to various places. Whilst I love the busyness that leads up to the holidays it can become exhausting as well!
It struck me recently how much the kids are growing up – it wasn’t long ago that they needed help with dressing and so on and now they are in the main independent. The weekends now are filled with activities and parties but we have persuaded our elf that he is allowed to come downstairs and fix himself a bowl of cereal and watch TV if he so wishes. It also stuck me how different their childhood is compared to mine – they play outside and in the garden as well as read and colour in and play games but their lives are also filled with gadgets. Since they were small they have been able to operate various ‘i’ gadgets competently and move easily into new technology! Pixie was practicing her alphabet recently and instead of x for X-ray or Xylophone we got X for X-box! How times have changed!