Long ago I started a WordPress account, where I wrote this entry. Deciding to keep the eggs in this basket I am pasting it here. It's a bit outdated now, but there you go.
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ROOMinations
Mega best-seller ROOM and Friday – a retelling of Robinson Crusoe  (kind of)
By a strange coincidence, I had just finished reading a translation of Michel Tournier’s 1967 novel Friday when I picked up Emma Donohue’s best-selling page-turner ROOM. Friday is a psychologically intense saga that rewrites Robinson Crusoe, and an undeniably peculiar novel to consider in juxtaposition with ROOM. Daniel Defoe’s 1719 Robinson Crusoe, is the inspiration for many many creative works connecting to the idea of isolation, creative use of limiting parameters, the human spirit, colonization, captivity, and on and on. Many adaptations of the novel range from sublime to ridiculous, including an 1867 operetta, four films, several TV series, and two islands (Chile and Fiji). And don’t forget Swiss Family Robinson and Gilligan’s Island. In literature, there are other numerous riffs on the story, none of which can comfortably be connected to the heartrending story told in ROOM.


ROOM is a tale of terrible incarceration, where a young woman is kidnapped, confined to a shed, and routinely raped by “Old Nick” a deviant loner, to whom she bears two children, one stillborn and the second a little boy named Jack. He is turning five at the start of the novel, written mostly in his own words. You think it’s going to be a grim read, but in fact, it is an account from a child’s eyes with his own interpretations of the only world he knows, the eleven-foot square interior of the shed. Friday, in many ways a grim read, also functions as a story about a man (Crusoe) trying to turn his deserted island environment into a facsimile of the world that he once knew.
Both narratives are delivered largely in the first person, Jack’s voice, and Crusoe’s journal. The first half of Friday tells of Crusoe’s strategies after being shipwrecked, and like Jack’s mother, the strategies for maintaining a sense of civilization and sanity in the face a  great desire to descend into a mire of despondence. There are structured routines for maintaining physical and mental endurance but both occasionally fall into depression. Crusoe actually does wallow in a mucky swamp, a physical “slough of despond”, while Jack’s mother “goes away” – staying in bed and not speaking. During these times Jack does his best to look after himself.


For Crusoe, the arrival of Friday changes little initially. He treats him as a servant, his slave, in the manner of western custom of the day, and one who must be civilized. It is only through Friday’s accidental destruction of Crusoe’s built environment does the dynamic alter, and Crusoe comes to appreciate Friday’s contributions to their lives and to allow his colonial preconceptions to fall away.


In both situations rescue does finally come, but the nature of the captivity and indeed the overriding themes in the two books diverge dramatically. Jack’s brave adventure (or ”scrave” as he and his mother describe being both brave and scared) is too exciting a read to give away here. For Crusoe and Friday a ship appears, its occupants are shown in all of their cruel materialistic and offensive natures. Crusoe has bonded with his natural state; the island has become his lover and nurturer. He doesn’t like the visitors’ heavy food, their smells, and the way the lower ranks are treated.


Out of ROOM and back to the outside world, mother and son have many adjustments to make. There is great joy among family members but also many awkward moments. An interviewer asks whether the Stockholm syndrome came in to play during their captivity. This suggestion incites the mother’s fury, as does the idea that Old Nick was abusive to the boy. She adamantly rejects both suggestions and makes the point that she had never allowed Jack to be seen by their captor.


Both stories deal with issues of adjustment when the protagonists are back within civilization. ROOM offers a child’s view of his enlarged world and there are interesting insights here. They are taken care of by family, social services, and the implication is that they will be healthy and socialized after a period of time. In Friday Crusoe has become a different creature. There is an equally positive outcome to the story. If you aren’t going to read the book I can email it to you.


Reading these two stories in succession has created interesting thought processes about civilization, nature, and the way we tell stories.  Friday delivers critical gravitas but ROOM is a great read with some charming insights imparted through the character of dear little Jack.


While there are narrative arcs that pull a reader through the stories, of more interest to me is that as readers we have endless fascination with the reconfiguring of existence within the possible. For each protagonist, choices are made within a narrow range. Jack and his mother choose to risk all for one chance at escape when they are faced with a cruel alternative: Old Nick might turn off their power supply, an action that would lead to slow death. Friday and Crusoe also make choices in terms of their relationships with a natural world versus so-called civilization. Tournier’s refiguring of the Defoe tale throws the whole concept of rescue into question, while the popular novel ROOM delivers a certain level of confidence that the protagonists will happily adjust to their newly expanded horizons.