The Gathering

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Best book of 2007 - Rated
Yes, I agreed with the Man Booker judges - this is a fabulous book. I didn't expect to like it, because so many people didn't who were also reading the shortlist at the time. I am glad I decided to read it and make up my own mind. It is quite different from anything I've read before. Veronica's middle-of-the-night imaginings are not particularly comfortable, but they are quite often wondrous.

A disarmingly truthful account of grief and guilt - Rated
Anne Enright's "The Gathering", winner of the Man Booker Prize 2007, is the story of Veronica's unravelling and putting back together again, following the death of her brother Liam.

Set in Ireland, this is a story about blame and accountability. Veronica believes she knows what killed Liam, something that happened long ago when they were left behind in the care of their grandparents, by their recklessly procreating parents.

Veronica operates in a mode of constant self-examination and interrogation, trying to establish culpability for Liam's death and her distress. The narrative is entirely from her perspective, but we never really know if she is a reliable witness. She trips in and out of fact and fancy, generating versions of truth before settling on the story that she is prepared to share with her surviving brothers and sisters.

It is a disarmingly honest account of a woman trying to know her own mind, and as such, I found Veronica easy to relate to. Although the story is supposed to be an explanation of Liam's demise, I always felt that there was so much Veronica I never really got to know Liam or feel any sadness for his death. In that respect I feel slightly cheated.

The writing style is vivid and evocative without being overly flowery, and the way that Anne Enright incorporates dialogue tickles me in its sassiness.

I enjoyed reading The Gathering, but I probably wouldn't go so far as to buy it as a gift for someone else, which for me is the mark of a truly brilliant novel.

I didn't gather it at all. - Rated
I found this the most tedious book I have read for a long time. I don't know how this won any prize. I got to page 114 and decided to shut it.

An undeserving Booker winner - Rated
Like the other reviewer, I failed to finish this book. After reading all the shortlisters for the Booker 2007 prize, I was looking forward to this, the winner. Unfortunately, rather than being the best, in my opinion it was the opposite. Dull, slow and, as has been said, full of contradictions that just make a confusing narrative.

If you want a great book, try Animal's People, which lost out to this for the prize but has made it into one of my top reads.

Contradiction after contradiction - Rated
Perhaps I have no right to write a review as I only got a quarter of a way through this book. It was so full of contradiction that I gave up in frustration. It is very "Irish". The typical catholic mother and children. Though the prose is flowing and intelligent I just couldn't cope with one sentence saying one thing, only to be contradicted in the next. Example: the children going upstairs to see their dead grandfather "Grandma was wearing black corseted taffetta" "just the two of us going up the stairs" (paraphrasing!) followed by "this was 1972 so she can't have been wearing black taffetta but her blue crimpoline two-piece" and "our sister must have been with us as well". Well, I'm sorry but which was it? Just as you are forming the pictures in your head and building the emotions they are torn down and re-arranged. Very frustrating. Just can't carry on with it, although I'm now itching to know what "The Gathering" would be like.