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Review
`a beautifully scripted novel...a worthy Booker winner'
--Kudos Magazine
--Kudos Magazine
Irish Independent
At a time when everyone is mirroring everyone else, Enright's style of writing remains singular and instantly identifiable
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was looking forward to reading this, as from the blurb plus the fact it was a Booker prize winner, it sounded like just the sort of novel I would enjoy. In fact it was a complete let down that I was glad to finish as it was so depressing. It was not difficult to read just for my taste the narrator Veronica's obsession with guilt over the death of her brother Liam just became somewhat boring and depressing.
The idea of reading the story of the Hegarty family, Midge, Bea, Ernest, Stevie, Ita, Mossie, Liam, Veronica, Kitty, Alice and the twins Ivor and Jem as the nine surviving children of the clan gathered in Dublin for the funeral of Liam was initially appealing as had been promised a novel about love and disappointment. A cast of potenially interesting characters that I never got to know at all, as none of them are given any personality by the narrator, Veronica.
Veronia is angry and finds fault in everything in her own life after the death of Liam the brother she was closest. Her childhood memories and imaginings of her grandparents and parents lives are all detailed, as her own sanity hangs in the balance as she tries to come to terms with the guilt and grief. Love and disappointment but certainly not from the angle I was expecting as the entire novel is a narration direct from Veronica's confused mind.
Technically a well written novel but I read for enjoyment not to get depressed. I am somewhat surprised that it won the 2007 Man Booker Prize , it is certainly not the title I would have voted for, my vote would have gone to On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, but then I am no expert.
The idea of reading the story of the Hegarty family, Midge, Bea, Ernest, Stevie, Ita, Mossie, Liam, Veronica, Kitty, Alice and the twins Ivor and Jem as the nine surviving children of the clan gathered in Dublin for the funeral of Liam was initially appealing as had been promised a novel about love and disappointment. A cast of potenially interesting characters that I never got to know at all, as none of them are given any personality by the narrator, Veronica.
Veronia is angry and finds fault in everything in her own life after the death of Liam the brother she was closest. Her childhood memories and imaginings of her grandparents and parents lives are all detailed, as her own sanity hangs in the balance as she tries to come to terms with the guilt and grief. Love and disappointment but certainly not from the angle I was expecting as the entire novel is a narration direct from Veronica's confused mind.
Technically a well written novel but I read for enjoyment not to get depressed. I am somewhat surprised that it won the 2007 Man Booker Prize , it is certainly not the title I would have voted for, my vote would have gone to On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, but then I am no expert.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Oh dear ... what can one say about this book (that hasn't already been said by other reviewers certainly). I read this book for my book group and after the first 15 pages or so found myself thinking - right, let's get this book over and done with and get on to something interesting! The central premise was obviously the gathering of the relatives for Liam's funeral but Veronica (the narrator of the story) meandered from thought to thought and appeared to be obsessed with sex which become very tedious and boring after a while. The chapters and asides about Ada the grandmother seemed totally unnecessary and very odd and apart from the abuse part with Lambert Nugent could easily have been left out - except that would have made the book thinner than it was and was presumably just padding.
There was no real story to this book I found and although I could empathise with some of Veronica's feelings concerning her children and her siblings the whole thing was just a bit too odd and strange to make it a worthwhile read.
Can't think how it did win the Booker prize - who nobbled the judges!
There was no real story to this book I found and although I could empathise with some of Veronica's feelings concerning her children and her siblings the whole thing was just a bit too odd and strange to make it a worthwhile read.
Can't think how it did win the Booker prize - who nobbled the judges!
52 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the pleasures of being in a book group is that you find yourself forced to read books you never would have otherwise tried, and as a result, sometimes discover a wonderful work (one such example in my case is Jose Saramago's Blindness). However, the evil twin of that pleasure is the unmitigated pain of wasting precious time slogging through something you can't stand. Unfortunately, not only does this Booker Prize-winner stand firmly in that second category, it is the champion of it: the most hated book of the 70+ I've read for my bookclub, and the least enjoyable work of fiction I've read this year (out of roughly 100 or so books).
Unlike many other haters of this tedious book, I didn't find it particularly difficult reading. The unannounced shifts back and forth in time and place didn't leave me adrift so much as amazed at their clumsiness. Then again, the book is essentially a monologue of remembrance, and human memories are messy things, so I was willing to conditionally accept that messiness as part and parcel of the protagonist. Speaking of the protagonist (middle-aged Veronica Hegerty), many haters seem to focus on her unlikability as the source of the book's problems. Personally, I don't think that a protagonist needs to be likable in any way -- just interesting. But she's not interesting in the slightest, just (like the book itself), annoyingly self-indulgent. I suppose this could be construed as a kind of commentary on her yuppiesh generation, but that seems like grasping at straws. Moreover, there are no other characters to connect with. The entire story takes place within Veronica's head, and even though it's populated with various family members who allegedly mean so much to her (in a love/hate way), the reader never gets a sense of any of them.
The plot -- such as it is -- revolves around the suicide of one of Veronica's brothers, which sends her on a trip to Brighton to bring the body back to Ireland for the funeral (she is gathering the body to bring it back to a gathering of people -- clever). About halfway into the book the "secret" of this brother's lifelong depression is revealed, and it's both jaw-droppingly cliched and wholly simplistic and reductionist. My one hope was that this "revelation" would be the spark that lit a fire under the second half of the book -- but no, it simply plods forward at the same stultifying pace. Ultimately the book has nothing to offer: it has no telling insights into memory or regret, it rehashes the same tired cliches about growing up poor and Irish, its use of the unreliable narrator is rudimentary at best, and its not even notably bleak and depressing. I guess you could make the argument that many of these flaws are actually commentary on the flawed nature of humans, but this doesn't make it worth spending your own precious time on.
Unlike many other haters of this tedious book, I didn't find it particularly difficult reading. The unannounced shifts back and forth in time and place didn't leave me adrift so much as amazed at their clumsiness. Then again, the book is essentially a monologue of remembrance, and human memories are messy things, so I was willing to conditionally accept that messiness as part and parcel of the protagonist. Speaking of the protagonist (middle-aged Veronica Hegerty), many haters seem to focus on her unlikability as the source of the book's problems. Personally, I don't think that a protagonist needs to be likable in any way -- just interesting. But she's not interesting in the slightest, just (like the book itself), annoyingly self-indulgent. I suppose this could be construed as a kind of commentary on her yuppiesh generation, but that seems like grasping at straws. Moreover, there are no other characters to connect with. The entire story takes place within Veronica's head, and even though it's populated with various family members who allegedly mean so much to her (in a love/hate way), the reader never gets a sense of any of them.
The plot -- such as it is -- revolves around the suicide of one of Veronica's brothers, which sends her on a trip to Brighton to bring the body back to Ireland for the funeral (she is gathering the body to bring it back to a gathering of people -- clever). About halfway into the book the "secret" of this brother's lifelong depression is revealed, and it's both jaw-droppingly cliched and wholly simplistic and reductionist. My one hope was that this "revelation" would be the spark that lit a fire under the second half of the book -- but no, it simply plods forward at the same stultifying pace. Ultimately the book has nothing to offer: it has no telling insights into memory or regret, it rehashes the same tired cliches about growing up poor and Irish, its use of the unreliable narrator is rudimentary at best, and its not even notably bleak and depressing. I guess you could make the argument that many of these flaws are actually commentary on the flawed nature of humans, but this doesn't make it worth spending your own precious time on.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
real and inspired
i loved this book. with aspirations of my own to write, it is always a bit depressing and uplifting to read such well observed, beautifullly crafted, witty and deft work. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Babs
exceptional
This is a truly authentic piece of work written with integrity. The mess of family life revealed in a breath~takingly honest voice and a book that I will be compelled to return to... Read more
Published 26 days ago by sixty plus
Powerful but tragic portrayal of humanity
This is great literature. Anne Enright has a remarkable gift of evoking whole eras through succinct expression of their memorable characteristics and impressions. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Geoff Crocker
Very Disappointing
"The Gathering" by Anne Enright is in my opinion, a somewhat dull and disappointing read. The storyline itself is one that could have been incredibly gripping and emotionally... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lovelace
The battle between truth and fantasy
An uncertainty grew within me when reading that this novel was `the least enjoyable work of fiction' incorporating nothing but tired clichés and a sense of purgatory. Read more
Published 5 months ago by xx
Silmilar to The Blackwater Lightship
Rather depressing, somewhat confusing at times. Not a book to read if you are feeling down. I found it very similar to Colm Tobin's The Blackwater Lightship. Read more
Published 6 months ago by ELIZABETH M
Gathering gloom
I gave this book three stars because I just enjoyed the writing. Each chapter was really a story of its own, a piece of a jigsaw. Read more
Published 7 months ago by nickyb
A wonderful novel and a worthy winner.
In a year when the Booker shortlist consists of poorly-written, commercial dross, it is delightful to reread this wonderful book and worthy winner of the prize. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Cathy Linton
Heart rending and tender.
Far from being simply a novel about an irish dysfunctional family this novel does not flinch from exploring the theme of love and voicing some unpalatable truthes about... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Bridget G
If only the author had heeded the Mad Hatter's advice to Alice
when telling a story 'Begin at the beginning ... when you reach the end - stop', this book could have been much improved. Read more
Published 9 months ago by A. Linton
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