This book was classified as a murder mystery by the bookstore in which I purchased it. While there is a murder (or possibly more), this book is about relationships, reflection, race relations, and Mississippi. Its characters make it worth reading; the "murder mystery" is almost a sideline.

The author put me in Mississippi, on a farm, in a nursing home, and in a squad car, all through the eyes of his well-developed and compassionate characters. I really enjoyed this book. If you like character-based novels, this is a great read.

I felt like I was reading a college English assignment, in which the student has been instructed in the mechanics of writing, but just hasn't mastered the nuances of making a story interesting to the reader.

Nothing about this book captivated me; the characters were shallow and inconsistent, and the underlying theme regarding the loss of language was unbelievable. If such a syndrome exists in which a person can be injured in such a way as to maintain the ability to understand but not speak his primary language, while regaining fluency in a language he hasn't used in 20 years, that fact needs to be illuminated in the book because it's just too incomprehensible to buy into otherwise.

If you can get past the effects of the injury, you still need to tolerate characters who behave in improbable ways and a meandering plot that doesn't satisfy, along with an amateur writing style.

I would not recommend this book.

Trite, implausible, and hugely disappointing. I loved Water for Elephants, which was rich and imaginative, moving and wise. Ape House contains only a thread of value in its attention to the animals and their use of American Sign Language to communicate with each other and with humans. Beyond that, the characters lack consistency and warmth, and the plot fails in its overused themes and endless coincidences. Please. I suspect that Ape House was published solely on the strength of Elephants, as it seems unlikely that such drivel would otherwise have been printed.

This book is difficult to categorize, but it would be fair to call it a thriller. However, while most thrillers end with the resolution of a situation, in Room, the situation is resolved about midway through the book. In the "bonus reading" (my own term for the second half of this book) the author is able to explore the concepts that readers often wonder about at the end of a thriller - most significantly, what was the psychological effect on the participants? She manages to present a consistent, intelligent, and plausible analysis for many of the characters, and the result is a very satisfying and compelling read.

This book is important, yet has been largely overlooked by reviewers and book clubs. It's not just a history of Hurricane Katrina, but a personal account of the storm and its aftermath. More significantly, it spotlights our country's emergency response plan and the bewildering policies that could affect any of us as a result of the next major disaster. In addition to its potential impact, it's a very engaging and compelling story by an intelligent and objective author.