Book review: Room : a novel, Emma Donoghue

I loved this book. The narrator is Jack, a five year old child who has spent his whole life living in a single room with his mother. They're prisoners of Old Nick, who sometimes visits at night while Jack sleeps in a wardrobe. Every day is filled with activities: chores, exercise, reading, some TV. Ma has told Jack that the things he sees on the TV aren't real, but now he's old enough to question that.
And then the story gets even more interesting.
It sounds like a crazy premise for a book, but she makes it work. There are a few things that are a little hard to believe but she gets so much else right that doesn't matter. Ma and Jack are wonderful characters. I want so much for things to work out for them.

Book review: The Storm at the Door: A Novel, Stefan Merrill Block

I got a review copy from LibraryThing.
It’s a fictionalized account of how his grandfather was committed to a mental hospital by his grandmother, given shock treatment, etc. I hated it. It's written in a wordy, dramatic style, with lots of heavy foreshadowing. Yes, the events in it are tragic, but it's just boring. Skimmed and got rid of it.