MovieChat Forums > Room (2016) Discussion > Anyone else on here read the book before...

Anyone else on here read the book before they watched the film?


BIG SPOILERS AHEAD
The film is quite faithfull to the book, up until shortly after the escape.
Where it differs is that Ma and Jack spend a long time convalescing at a Clinic for Mental Illness.
Ma's suicide attempt occurs while Jack is out on a day trip with some of Ma's family.
I can't remember if it is with Ma's mother or with his cousins and Aunt/Uncle

Ma's name is never revealed in the book.

Although I found the book to be a real page turner I forced myself to wait for some time before reading on after that cliffhanger so I had no idea if she was alive or dead.
The book was divided into five very long sections or chapters.
I did wonder where room was until Old Nick mentioned that he couldn't install an extractor fan because the smell of Ma's cooking may alert his neighbours. Up until then there was no indication where Room was. Indeed at one point, before the nature of Nick and the rapes featured in the book, I even wondered if it may turn out to be taking place in a a post apopolyptic Earth.
Also the book did explain much better why Ma was unable tho break out.
When I read the book I knew virtually nothing about it so when the first escape attempt happened about halfway through I expected it to fail. I assumed wrongly that virtually the entire book would take place in Room.
I can only think of one other novel that fooled my expectations big time like this and that was Battlefield Earth by L.Ron Hubbard when the battle between the surviving humans on alien occupied Earth, and the occupying aliens occurs about halfway through the novel instead of the end. And the second half of the film dealt with the aftermath. (the film dealt only with the first half of the novel)

So with them getting out with half the book remaining, I assumed that it would build up to the trial. Of course that doesn't happen either as I now know that Emma who wrote the novel wanted Old Nick to be peripheral to the main action.

Ma/Joy's suicide attempt occurs at the end of the 4th section of the book and is the cliffhanger for that section.
I forced myself to wait until reading the final section so for that time I didn't know if she was alive or dead.
I did wonder if the final section may be bittersweet with Ma dead and may even be set a few years later. I do wonder if Emma missed a trick there.
As it turned out of course Ma/Joy wasn't dead and the final section picked up just a few days later.
I do think the book could have done with an epilogue though maybe set about five or six years later.

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The change to a movie format and movie length forces the changes that appear in the movie. I think the movie adaptation was fantastic.

I also think the book did a great job of the parts of many stories we never see: The bad guy is caught, the hero escapes. But then what happens to the hero?
We don't need an epilogue set years in the future. Ma's silent 'bye Room' tells us she(and Jack) are going to be alright.

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I read the book as well before seeing the film. I definitely agree that the adaptation was spot-on.

I agree there was more detail about the configuration of the shed so that people here would stop fixating on that.

Everyone should read the book.

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I read the book first and actually preferred the movie which doesn't happen too often. I felt like we got to see more of it from the adults' perspective in the film. I thought the way the 5 year old voice was written was annoying to read in the book.

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I did both around the same time. I think I did the book a day or two sooner. Honestly, while I preferred a few things in the book, I liked the movie better. While the book is great, I think most of the changes work to the best of the story.

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