REVIEW: The Room – Ray Melnik

As an atheist and a man who believes when we’re born we are given only existence, Harry Ladd is forced to look back on his life when his mother’s room becomes a place where the past and the present merge in what some may believe to be a supernatural event — not Harry, though; he takes the logical, scientific approach that we are the controllers of our own destiny and everything we do, the decisions we make, shape our future, nothing else.

With two daughters, Kaela and Lainey, an ex-wife, and a possible new girlfriend Lacey on the horizon, we follow Harry as he debates and philosophises the meaning of his life, deals with his dying mother and struggles to cope with the fact that his brother, Malcolm, no longer wants to be associated with him. Malcolm still blames Harry and their mother for not protecting them from their abusive father when they were younger. On one hand Harry wants to contact his brother now that their mother is dying, but he doesn’t know if he is doing the right thing, or whether there is any point. Malcolm never attended their father’s funeral, and has shown no interest in either Harry or their mother since. On the other hand, Harry is battling against his guilt of not giving Malcolm the choice to make amends. Will Harry decide to clear his conscience and contact his brother? If he does, how on earth will Malcolm react?

Ray Melnik supplies an inspirational look into the lives of a family struggling to manage the complexities of life while exploring the laws of physics through Harry’s search for answers regarding “the unexplained” happenings in his mother’s room. I believe the strength of this book lies in how much we care about Harry’s attempt to reconcile with his brother, and Harry’s realisation of what his mother says when he gets the chance to go back in time and hear what she was also going through when their abusive father was at his worst; this time with an adult’s perspective. In addition there is also an underlying message that we determine the course of our future through our own actions, which makes The Room one to get you thinking long after the book has been shut.

Check out the next book: To Your Own Self Be True and the giveaway for both books – ending 31st July, 2009.