Aluminum Christmas Trees: At the start of the book, Jack mentions watching episodes of certain cartoons, one of them being a Spongebob Squarepants episode that Jack describes as having a "creepy pencil". While a good portion of people would recognize that as the episode "Frankendoodle", fewer people would probably realize that the Dora the Explorer episode Jack mentions where a robot butterfly steals Swiper's mask and gloves is also a real episode ("Dora's Got a Puppy").
Jack's language and by extension the book's style. The general camps are,
Jack is one of the more realistic depictions of a five-year-old, going off on tangents and even changing the subject within his train of thought. Even his Innocently Insensitive moments are somewhat justified by his age and life circumstances.
He's too sophisticated for a five-year-old. He can read passages from The Shack, is able to spell "feces" and know what it means, and one of his bedtime stories was the history of the Berlin Wall. While some do find this understandable to a degree, they also feel that the book is toeing the line into unbelievable.
He's way too cutesy for a five-year-old. Especially for one whose only social outlet is his mother who regularly corrects his grammar and even made a game to parrot what he's heard on TV to help his grammar. This camp argues that it makes no sense for Jack to be referring to men and women as "a/the he" and "a/the she."
He's inconsistent between cutesy and sophisticated. Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Jack can go from having a good vocabulary for his age right back to baby talk on a switch.
The Slice of Life style of the book. Necessary? Or needless padding. It doesn't help that Jack delves into Too Much Information (telling the reader which breast he prefers when breastfeeding, what position his penis is in in the morning, or randomly mentioning how it's floating in the bath). As a result, some find the movie a tad tighter in some respects since it cut most of that padding.
The novel is based off of the Fritzl case. In reality, the author has clarified that the idea of a mother raising her child in captivity was simply inspired by the Fritzl case, and the rest of the novel was all made up by herself.
A smaller number of people say the story was based off of Jaycee Lee Dugard, which hadn't even been discovered yet at the time of the author writing the novel.
Complete Monster: "Old Nick"—the otherwise-unnamed man who garners his appropriate title from a title of Satan—kidnaps and locks away a young woman in the titular “Room,” using the woman as a means of pleasure by raping her almost every night on end for seven years. Old Nick accidentally impregnates Ma and forces her to give birth right in front of him without the use of painkillers or any medical equipment whatsoever, leading to the baby's death. Once Ma gives birth to Jack, the young narrator of the novel, Nick keeps them both as his prisoners with threats to leave them both to starve to death if they ever try and escape, making good on his threats by cutting the power and heat to the Room after Ma angers him enough times about their needs and keeping Jack safe when he got overly curious.
Fanon: Some fans have nicknamed Ma’s stillborn daughter Alice because of the Alice Allusion used in the book.
Narm: A few scenes that are supposed to be tense and suspenseful tend to have all that drained right out of that thanks to Jack's persistent baby talk.
Separated by a Common Language: Author Emma Donoghue was born in Ireland and is a long-time resident of Canada. Room is set in an unnamed town in America. Sometimes the language barrier becomes apparent (notably in the book's frequent use of the phrase "in hospital"—the American usage would be "in a hospital" or "at the hospital"—but also in some the slang: "any joy?" would more likely be "any luck?" in American English.)
Spiritual Successor: Donoghue drew inspiration from the book The Road, focusing on a mother/son relationship instead of a father/son one.
The Woobie: Oooh boy! In both the book and the film adaptation, Jack and Ma both fill this role.
The Room film adaptation:
Accidental Aesop: Crosses over into Warp That Aesop territory: Never be nice and help anybody out ever, because they're likely a sadistic psychopath who'll abduct you and hold you captive as their Sex Slave indefinitely.
Award Snub: Meanwhile, at the Oscars, Tremblay didn't get a nomination for anything.
However, at the Canadian Screen Awards presentation, Tremblay was practically the star of the event and won Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Fridge Brilliance: Likely unintentional, but the hospital scenes after Ma and Jack are freed from a "prison" of their own are shot at the Bridgepoint Active Healthcare hospital in Toronto. The incredibly modern building is an adaptive reuse of a historic Toronto site – the former Don Jail, which still stands in most of its original form on the Bridgepoint site. Some hospital facilities are even located in the former jail, and it is indeed visible in a few shots of the hospital. So, in a way, Ma and Jack go from one prison to another.
Leo is just a walking Heartwarming Moment given his patience and gentleness with Jack and his general easygoing nature. Suffice to say that the movie and the book would've been a lot heavier without him in it.
Jack making a friend his age, Aaron.
A little moment between Jack and his grandma after his haircut.
