C itibaren Almodôvar, Portekiz
Vorsicht, könnte Spoiler enthalten... Der Autor hat hier bequemerweise das Erfolgsrezept von "Chemie des Todes" 1:1 kopiert. Der gleiche Aufbau, im Prinzip exakt die gleichen Täter, wieder eine abgeschiedene Gemeinschaft... Er spielt wieder mit den exakt gleichen Tricks um den Leser zu verwirren, allerdings haben die schon im ersten Buch nicht wirklich funktioniert, im Zweiten wird es dann langweilig. Das Buch hat mich allerdings schon recht gut unterhalten, man hatte ja doch die Hoffnung, dass er sich noch einen Twist hat einfallen lassen, ich war während des Lesens eigentlich sicher, dass er nur mit den Erwartungen derjenigen spielt, die Chemie des Todes kennen und es auf keinen Fall genauso auflöst, wie im ersten Buch! Mein persönlicher Simon Beckett Bedarf ist damit allerdings gedeckt.
I read this in Elementary school and it is really good! I've read it a bunch of times and I never got bored.
http://zimlicious.blogspot.com/ Room by Emma Donoghue tells the story of Jack and her mother, who are literally stuck living inside a room and aren't allowed to go or even look outside. Old Nick, as the man who kidnapped the mother is called, brings them food and things-- on his own terms. Jack was born in the Room, which has no windows except for a skylight that doesn't show much, and all he knows of the world is what his mother tells him. He watches TV, yes, but for the longest time he thinks there are people "in" the TV and that nothing he sees on there is real. I was rather amazed by how Donoghue makes a 5-year-old boy tell the story without me wanting to gauge my eyes out. At the same time, he's just like any other kid would be. He wants to play, he wants his mother to pay attention to him at all times, he doesn't want her or himself hurt, he likes to stick to his schedule. Jack and "Ma" have their own schedule in the Room, which, like I've said, Jack was born into. So when they're finally rescued, both him and his Ma have a very hard time, both for very different reasons. I didn't research this well, because I don't care, but I also can't help but mentioning seeing some people who give the book crap for being on a true story, mainly the Fritzl case. And the reason I mention this is because for me it's another aspect of the book that makes it fascinating. Are any of us unfamiliar with these kind of events taking place in real life? How many times have we seen such a thing on the news and cursed the hell out of those evil people, hardly comprehending such a thing would happen? My answer is, more times than I'd like to remember, and I'm pretty sure there were those that were never found or made it to the news. Yet I found myself not being able to stop reading just to see what was going to happen. Yes, you take a deep breath once they're saved and go, "phew!" but as it's way more obvious for Jack than it is for Ma, being saved doesn't mean they get to just keep on living their lives. Seeing how the sun, the breeze, the grass, the rain, the stairs and everything are all new to Jack made me realize how much we take for granted just because they're always there. I think my favorite part was observing Jack while he himself observed the Outside. He makes quite a few points that I wouldn't even think of. One of the questions he has, for example, is why do people say "careful" after you've yourself? Really, why not before you get hurt? And then, when they drive by a park after Jack's been to a different one, he thinks everything's in the wrong place and that something's just very wrong, until someone tells him that's a different park. His reaction, which I loved, is "Lots of the world seems to be a repeat." You're right, Jack, you're so right. On kind of a last note, and this might be a spoiler if you're a nerd like I am, the version of the book I have has the cover with a kid sitting on the corner and the wooden house with a window drawn on it. I kinda wish I waited to get the other one I posted on top because after reading the book, I think the designers were very clever about it. When Jack and Ma are in the clinic, Dr. Clay gives Jack crayons so he can draw for him the Room. Jack says there are 120 different colors in the box, but he picks five; blue, green, orange, red and brown because that's all he had in the Room. See; orange, red, green and blue on the cover, in a child's handwriting. Am I getting way too excited about this? Well, shit happens.