Room

Emma Donoghue's Room, a novel about a woman who becomes a mother while being held captive, has received a lot of recent press attention.  Donoghue takes a dark topic and tells the story from 5-year-old Jack's point of view.  Jack was born in the room and knows nothing outside of its soundproof walls.  Despite the lack of space, freedom, and social interaction, Jack's Ma has created a world that revolves around her son. 
While reading Room I felt anxious about what might happen to Ma & Jack next and exhausted even though all the activity was taking place in an 11 x 11 space.  At no time does Donoghue's writing seem repetitive despite Ma & Jack performing the same activities within the same confines daily.  The strongest impression this book left on me was one of cloying closeness, devoid of privacy or personal boundaries.  Since I don't want to reveal any more of the plot, I will leave readers to draw their own conclusions and impressions by reading Room.

NYT Book Review (September 19, 2010)
Room book webpage http://www.roomthebook.com/ with a schematic diagram to bring the room into context and scale
Author Jennifer Weiner interviews Emma Donoghue - read interview text here