The Gathering - Anne Enright
Winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, The Gathering is the harrowing tale of a dysfunctional Irish family told by Veronica Hegarty. She is plunged back into her past and forced to face her diverse, drinking family upon the death of her dearest brother, Liam. A troubled young man, Liam walks into the sea at Brighton and never resurfaces. Shocked and somewhat bitter, Veronica invites us to explore her memories of and with her brother as she searches for the classic 'what went wrong?'
The novel itself has a cold tone throughout - unsurprisingly, as the whole thing is centred around Veronica arranging the funeral details and transport of her brother's body back to his birth town. However, this tone is undoubtedly the fault of Enright's narrator, who is seemingly devoid of positive emotion.
The author depicts the loss in an angry and bitter way as the narrator blames the incessant reproduction of her mother and father for the faults of her brother. Living within a huge family, Veronica obviously feels neglected by her parents and even by many of her brothers and sisters - she was forced to grow up, alongside Liam, with a grandmother of equally cold behaviour. It seems to be in the Hegarty genes that the women grow cold, staying with their partners through thick and thin for reasons that they might have forgotten.
Veronica herself, in reflecting upon her past, becomes more and more detached from her family - she feels competition and resentment towards one of her two daughters, and refuses to sleep with her husband, increasingly turning to drink for company. It is very uncomfortable to read about the lack of love one woman can feel for her family. Most people have faith that a mother's love can prevail over all other forms and yet here is Veronica almost hating her children.
Enright explores the family structure in a way I have never seen before. The Hegarty children are more like numbers than children and Veronica constantly tries to convince us that her mother doesn't even know her name. The bond between parent and child is significantly damaged in this book, which is slightly disturbing (but intriguing) to read.
Enright's attitude towards the family in The Gathering is equally reflected in her portrayal of sex. Intercourse is grotesque throughout and issues surrounding Liam's sexual life enhance this. Sex is not enjoyable for Veronica - it is a mechanical, almost disgusting act of human behaviour, undoubtedly a view resulting from her feelings towards her incredibly fertile parents.
Liam is the fall from grace. He is quite beautiful under Enright's description, with the extremely blue "Hegarty eyes". Girls throw themselves at him, but his childhood, marked by a damaged, loveless upbringing, fail this potentially bright star, as it seems to have done for all the Hegarty children. However, Liam is essentially a ghost in Veronica's story. We are never allowed insight into his real feelings or emotions, and his alcoholism and other underlying problems are the products of his sister's observations and suppositions.
Although more cold and bitter than any character I have ever come across, Veronica's thought processes resemble those of any other human, even if her thoughts are far from your own. The desire to retain the memory of someone you've loved and lost and, perhaps, to reason with why they couldn't have been saved, is a natural process when love and death tragically come together.
Enright's writing is clearly deserving of the Man Booker Prize, which I found a little surprising. I have read Booker shortlisters and winners before, only to find them abstract and unenjoyable. This was not the case with The Gathering. Yes, it is still a bit abstract, with little plot and a complicated array of hazy memories recounted by a narrator who sometimes tells the story the way she hoped it had happened. Nevertheless, The Gathering is beautiful, touching and very interesting - I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend it to anyone who wants to read about a fresh view on a broken family.
Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Gathering'.
Winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, The Gathering is the harrowing tale of a dysfunctional Irish family told by Veronica Hegarty. She is plunged back into her past and forced to face her diverse, drinking family upon the death of her dearest brother, Liam. A troubled young man, Liam walks into the sea at Brighton and never resurfaces. Shocked and somewhat bitter, Veronica invites us to explore her memories of and with her brother as she searches for the classic 'what went wrong?'
The novel itself has a cold tone throughout - unsurprisingly, as the whole thing is centred around Veronica arranging the funeral details and transport of her brother's body back to his birth town. However, this tone is undoubtedly the fault of Enright's narrator, who is seemingly devoid of positive emotion.
The author depicts the loss in an angry and bitter way as the narrator blames the incessant reproduction of her mother and father for the faults of her brother. Living within a huge family, Veronica obviously feels neglected by her parents and even by many of her brothers and sisters - she was forced to grow up, alongside Liam, with a grandmother of equally cold behaviour. It seems to be in the Hegarty genes that the women grow cold, staying with their partners through thick and thin for reasons that they might have forgotten.
Veronica herself, in reflecting upon her past, becomes more and more detached from her family - she feels competition and resentment towards one of her two daughters, and refuses to sleep with her husband, increasingly turning to drink for company. It is very uncomfortable to read about the lack of love one woman can feel for her family. Most people have faith that a mother's love can prevail over all other forms and yet here is Veronica almost hating her children.
Enright explores the family structure in a way I have never seen before. The Hegarty children are more like numbers than children and Veronica constantly tries to convince us that her mother doesn't even know her name. The bond between parent and child is significantly damaged in this book, which is slightly disturbing (but intriguing) to read.
Enright's attitude towards the family in The Gathering is equally reflected in her portrayal of sex. Intercourse is grotesque throughout and issues surrounding Liam's sexual life enhance this. Sex is not enjoyable for Veronica - it is a mechanical, almost disgusting act of human behaviour, undoubtedly a view resulting from her feelings towards her incredibly fertile parents.
Liam is the fall from grace. He is quite beautiful under Enright's description, with the extremely blue "Hegarty eyes". Girls throw themselves at him, but his childhood, marked by a damaged, loveless upbringing, fail this potentially bright star, as it seems to have done for all the Hegarty children. However, Liam is essentially a ghost in Veronica's story. We are never allowed insight into his real feelings or emotions, and his alcoholism and other underlying problems are the products of his sister's observations and suppositions.
Although more cold and bitter than any character I have ever come across, Veronica's thought processes resemble those of any other human, even if her thoughts are far from your own. The desire to retain the memory of someone you've loved and lost and, perhaps, to reason with why they couldn't have been saved, is a natural process when love and death tragically come together.
Enright's writing is clearly deserving of the Man Booker Prize, which I found a little surprising. I have read Booker shortlisters and winners before, only to find them abstract and unenjoyable. This was not the case with The Gathering. Yes, it is still a bit abstract, with little plot and a complicated array of hazy memories recounted by a narrator who sometimes tells the story the way she hoped it had happened. Nevertheless, The Gathering is beautiful, touching and very interesting - I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend it to anyone who wants to read about a fresh view on a broken family.
Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Gathering'.
