I read Emma Donoghue’s Room, which is a pretty haunting tale told from the point of view of Jack, the 5-year-old son of a woman who had been raped and imprisoned (with her son) for 7 long years in a shed.

Although I find the book a riveting read, I’m not so sure if the content would be as interesting to a high school student. Having worked with many children in previous jobs, I appreciate Donoghue’s effort to write realistically from the point of view of a 5-year-old, which could not be easy. On top of this potential lack of connection with high school students, the subject matter is highly disturbing (the rape is never mentioned in detail, but this does not make the read any easier).

Reading Room does make me think about the benefits of reading something that is borderline disturbing, or uncomfortable. Sometimes it forces empathy from the reader, but sometimes it also forces us to consider what larger social issues lie behind the problems in the books we read.