Since I'm not reading as quickly as I'd like, I thought I'd give a review of a fabulous book I read in 2010. I actually bought this book with an Amazon gift card I got for being healthy (yeah insurance, I guess) and bought it because it was highly recommended.
This is the story of Jack, who was born into captivity...but doesn't know it. His mom was kidnapped by an obviously deranged man and held in his tiny sound-proof garden shed a la whats-her-name Dugard. So 5-year old Jack has no idea about the outside world. The story is told from his point of view, so we feel his innocence and struggle with understanding his mom's sporadic bouts of depression.
I really liked this book a lot. It was innovative and a great study into the psychology of parenting, depression, being held captive, etc.
Since it talks about escape in the summary, I guess I won't be spoiling anything if I tell you that my favorite part was watching Jack and his mother adjust to life on the outside after being everything to each other for 5 years and living in a tiny tiny space. One example of something that Emma Donoghue wrote about that you wouldn't even think of is that Jack has never seen a stair. So at five years old, he is terrified of the stairs and starts out by going down on his butt or his stomach like a year old. I like the way this author's brain works. It makes me think...
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