The Gathering (Man Booker Prize)

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The Gathering (Man Booker Prize)

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Anne Enright is a dazzling writer of international stature and one of Ireland’s most singular voices. Now she delivers The Gathering, a moving, evocative portrait of a large Irish family and a shot of fresh blood into the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the old with the shock of the new. The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan are gathering in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother, Liam, drowned in the sea. His sister, Veronica, collects the body and keeps the dead man company, guarding the secret she shares with him—something that happened in their grandmother’s house in the winter of 1968. As Enright traces the line of betrayal and redemption through three generations her distinctive intelligence twists the world a fraction and gives it back to us in a new and unforgettable light. The Gathering is a daring, witty, and insightful family epic, clarified through Anne Enright’s unblinking eye. It is a novel about love and disappointment, about how memories warp and secrets fester, and how fate is written in the body, not in the stars.

Amazon.com:

Amazon Significant Seven, November 2007: Pretty early on in The Gathering you realize that in her lingering portrait of the Hegarty clan (and this isn't hyperbole--they are a family of 12), Irish novelist Anne Enright will wrestle with all the giant literary tropes that have come before her. Family, of course, is the big one, but with equal intensity she explores death and dying, the sea and its siren song, sex, shame, secrecy, unreliable memories, madness, "the drink," and--always in the shadows--England. That said, it's not like any other novel about the Irish that I've read. The story of the Hegartys is indeed bleak, and hard, but it surges with tenderness and eloquent thought which, in the end, are the very things that help this family (or at least her narrator Veronica) survive. Through her eyes, and in Enright's skillful imagination, those small turning-point moments of life that we all know in some form or another--a petty fight, a careless word, an event witnessed--come together in an unshakeable vision of how you become the person you are. --Anne Bartholomew

Customer Reviews:

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-03
great literature
The reviews here vary hugely between 1 to 5 - maybe that's because Anne Enright is a thought-provoking writer who is capable of generating a strong emotional response...I read the novel while travelling and found something in the narrative that went comfortably with my roaming state of mind - On the road, you tend to have time and quiet to look back and remember. In the novel, there is an important journey taking place in the mind of Veronica, the main character, and it is a journey that is raw and profound. Yes, it is a sad book. So sad it kicks you in the gut. But Enright has enough wit to make her characters lively and sometimes even funny. It is ultimately uplifting and true. If you are not afraid of a difficult story well told, read 'The Gathering'!

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-03
The gathering of Anne Enright's Thoughts
Although I read a lot of books, this was the first one that I have ever encountered that I consider a waste of my time. Sure, Anne Enright would make a great poet - with the way she writes and all, but c'mon, for this book? It is totally not worth the read. I don't understand what the hype is all about. She writes like how her thoughts run through her mind - like a string of words the bring her from one point to the next. You start by reading about when she was eight in the first paragraph, then the second paragraph goes to another topic totally unrelated and she expects us to understand this? I don't understand either how she got an award for this.

My main complaint about this book is that it doesn't make any sense. One sentence the brother is alive, the next he isn't! One sentence its his wake and then the next its 5 months later?? This is not a great novel at all and I agree with everyone that says that this book is totally not worth the read.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-01
"stream of consciousness gloom"
This is the story of the "gathering" of a large Irish family after the death of one of the brothers. It is told solely from the vantage point of one of the sisters, Veronica. The reader is shuttled back and forth through time and the vantage point of the narrator at different ages. One has to admire the writing for its brutal strength and originality. Enright is no-doubt-about-it brilliant in her use of language and in the depth of her analysis of human relationships. She does a fabulous job of examining the vagaries of memory and does well at conveying conflicting emotions. HOWEVER, the story is not only endlessly grim, it is hard to follow because of chronological leaps and bounds, and, worst of all, there is no let up on the gloom, no humor that I could detect. I just finished the book and I feel like I've had a long fruitless talk with a disturbed relative. So there, I recognize the extraordinary writing talent it took to produce this book, but I can't help wondering if a little Prozac might not be in order.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-30
Excellent
Enright skillfully takes the reader inside the mind of a woman in the midst of a crisis for an intimate view of a family's history and the impact of that history on the lives of all involved. The novel is touching without being overwhelmingly sad. Brilliantly written, it's a worthwhile read that well deserves the Booker prize it received.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-29
Foul
I don't mind the occasional reference to love making etc. but after 86 pages of every slang, sordid and squalid entrance into body parts requiring the male, this book just decended into the junkyard of books that could have been something.

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