Book Review: The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Roo Fanshaw's dad and stepmom have been murdered in a drug deal gone bad. The only reason she survived is because she's really good at hiding. When it all went down, she hid underneath her mobile home. Roo is really good at hiding her true self as well. She was constantly bullied at school, so she convinced everyone that she was crazy in order to make the kids leave her alone. Roo feels more at peace communing with nature. Another problem she has is that she likes to steal things that do not belong to her.

Roo is surprised to find out that her father has a rich brother, and that this uncle has invited Roo to live with him on Cough Rock Island. It might sound like a good deal, but when Roo arrives she finds that his home is a delapidated facility that once served as a hospital for children suffering from tuberculosis. Apparently, the hospital was not very successful in its treatments because there is a chute where they used to throw the bodies of kids that didn't respond to their cure. Her uncle, who looks like a twin of her dead father, wants nothing to do with Roo, shoving her off on his assistants, Ms. Valentine and a young woman named Violet.

Roo is allowed to explore any part of the former hospital except the East Wing, but that is precisely where she keeps on hearing strange humming noises, crying, and sometimes, screams.

There is a byline on the cover of this book that states that The Humming Room is "inspired by The Secret Garden". I have never read the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett but I remember I really liked the 1993 film adaptation back in the day. Having only seen the movie, I would say that Potter's novel sticks pretty close to the story of The Secret Garden. What Potter did was simply to update it a bit, maybe making the story a bit grittier with Roo's father and stepmom being murdered. She also made the atmosphere a lot creepier. The old hospital has lots of old abandoned beds, wheelchairs, and other things left behind. It's almost like Potter took the story of The Secret Garden and set it in the environment of The Orphanage, the Spanish horror film.

I enjoyed this book, but felt it stuck a little too closely to the story that inspired it. I think Potter should have been more imaginative and bold and played with the plot a bit more.

My Grade: B+

The Humming Room by Ellen Potter
Published by Feiwel and Friends
Print list price: $16.99
E-book price: $9.99