The Gathering
CDN$ 8.91
The gathering of dispersive thoughts - `The Gathering happens because Liam Hegarty dies suddenly. Through the words of his beloved sister Veronica who collects his body and organizes the funeral, we learn the tale of the Hegarty family and a terrible secret from the distant past which she shares with Liam. Collecting her thoughts, feelings and memories hopping through three generations I suppose reflects an intrinsic quality, a certain originality in this novel, but it still did not satisfy me. The display of thoughts and situations that flow and scatter chasing each other in almost every page is often too disjointed for my liking. This probably conveys Veronica s pain and state of mind in an authentic way -facing the irreversible past and struggling with grief, seeking redemption- but I found that past and present interchanging swiftly, with juxtapositional vague memories and some mental images, rendered the whole story a bit knotty. Also, I really did not think that any of the characters were suitably portrayed. There are no standouts one way or the other, which could have added depth to the novel, perhaps this was the author s intention (i.e. a portrait of a very ordinary, numerous, imperfect family) but because most characters seem to just linger in the background, without much purpose, the result was that I soon found the whole thing quite dispersive, bordering boring. I have finished the book because I always do, but I was expecting more by a Man Booker Prize Winner. Sorry, sometimes that s the way it goes.
Waste of time - Considering all the rave reviews and prizes this book has received, I was expecting great things when it was lent to me by a friend. I was in for a big disappointment! I found the characters cold, distant and flat. I was unable to muster up any feeling for any of them whatsoever. Perhaps this is what Enright was going for, but there needs to be something for the reader to hold onto. I am an avid reader of a great deal of postmodern literature and I enjoy the abrupt, fragmented style of writing that is often a part of this genre, but this novel just seemed stilted and lifeless. Enright utterly failed to interest me or move me in the slightest.
Great for a university class, but not for the beach - This book is more suitable for a university class, but as something to bring with you on the beach, STAY AWAY. Long, difficult and pointless, I wouldn t recommend this book.
All I have are stories - . . . writes Veronica, the narrator of this unusual family saga, in the opening pages, ... night thoughts, the sudden convictions, that uncertainty spawns. It will be important for us, the readers, to keep this in mind as we get increasingly drawn into Anne Enright s award-winning novel. While it is a family saga of sorts, it is much more a psychological study of a woman in crisis. Written in a straightforward, sometimes witty, conversational tone which later may sometimes prove deceiving, Veronica s thoughts and ruminations move in apparently haphazard fashion from her childhood experiences in the 1960s to the present. The present being some months after the funeral of her brother which brought her together with the rest of the Hegarty clan.Veronica s crisis centres on Liam, her favourite brother who has died in untoward circumstances. She wants to tell his story, yet finds it difficult to come to terms with who he has become since their intimate childhood years. Did his troubled life commence with an event she recalls observing when she was nine and he eleven at their gran s? Did it actually happen or is her memory playing tricks? Did something happen to her too at that time? In her reminiscences of that carefree long summer holiday with Liam and younger sister Kitty at their grandmother s, a dark cloud was hanging over them. Enright contrasts this special summer with the usual life in the Hegarty family: Mammy always pregnant, the father rarely seen around the increasingly large family. Poverty is hinted at in many ways, without being overplayed. Among Vee s shorter or longer introductions of her large family, Ada, the grandmother, stands out as the most important character. Veronica imagines her as a young girl of 18 in 1925, when Irish women had very little freedom to choose which way their life should go. Vee clearly feels drawn to her as she tries to lift the mystery of Ada s relationship to the two men in her life. While she remains a presence beyond her death, others, like the parents, pale to almost nothingness. Sometimes I don t remember my mother. I look at her photograph and she escapes me.Returning to that crucial time of Veronica s childhood quite often, Enright s ability to draw out her protagonist s uncertainty as to what actually happened and her emotional turmoil that accompanied the ambiguity of her recollections is exquisite. For Vee, the reverberations of the past appear to stack insurmountable obstacles in the way of her present life, in particular in her relationship to nice and kind husband Tom. Is a way out, a conclusion, possible?In the end, The Gathering that Enright exposes the reader to is not primarily the physical coming together of the family for the funeral, as it is Vee s gathering of memories and reassessments of events and people of the past. The description of the wake, the interaction between the different Hegarty siblings, nonetheless, brings the diverse strands in the story together in a satisfying manner. [Friederike Knabe]
An Engaging Narrator Takes You to Liam s Wake While Shrouding the Past in Mystery - When a book has won a prestigious prize like the Man Booker, readers feel a double challenge: Appreciate the book for what it is and try to figure out what attracted the award panel s approval. I think the former was easier to do than the latter in this case.Ultimately, The Gathering s subject is the difficulty with trying to pin down the truth of anything, especially things that happened long ago for which there is little or no contemporary evidence. If you ve never thought much about that issue, you ll enjoy the subtle philosophical bent of the novel.That subject is explored in the context of a sister contemplating her brother s death. Veronica Hegerty is a very vivid and appealing character: Much of the book s charm comes from seeing her family through her eyes and memories. In the process, she reveals the kind of within the family opinions that all family members express in whispers with one another. Beneath her grief, Veronica also feels a need to share a secret with us . . . but she feels at a loss for how to do so. Her rambling reflections gradually spiral closer and closer to that secret until you realize its full shocking lesson: People may not be who they seem to be, and you need to be careful even where there seems to be no risk.There s an unedited quality at times in the book that captures what will remind you of the sorts of soliloquies that we ve all conducted in our minds. That exposition method is very effective for making Veronica s feelings come across more strongly.Why did the book win the award? I m not really sure. I found that the secret wasn t so very interesting as to make the philosophical question and the writing style worth the effort. The book felt like a well decorated cake where the appearance of the icing was a lot better than the taste and freshness of the cake.But anyone who enjoys good writing will find this book rewarding. We can all learn from a stylist like Anne Enright.