The Gathering

THE GATHERING

by Anne Enright

 

Award: Booker Winner 2007

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2009, Women's Prize Longlist 2008

 

Date Read: August 1, 2021

 

My second encounter with Enright and I am just as delighted, even if the content is somber and somewhat ambiguous. In The Gathering, Enright explores family connectedness, family obligations and the unreliability of memory. Rather than reading like a plot-driven novel, The Gathering is more of an exploration or meditation on these topics.

 

Veronica, our narrator, comes from a large Catholic family (12 children and 7 miscarriages – I can’t even imagine) and along with all these personalities comes varying degrees of closeness and understanding. Veronica is closest with her brother Liam, who has always been a troubled soul and suffering from depression. Liam, unable to bear the burden any longer, drowns himself in the sea. This loss is the undoing of Veronica’s life, as up until this point she has been teetering on the brink of needing to change her life. How exactly, she is never quite sure but an unravelling of sorts begins.

 

She manages the details of Liam’s death, saving her mother the pain and responsibility. She can trace Liam’s undoing back through her grandmother Ada, and a strange relationship she had with a man named Nugent. Nugent was most likely in love with Ada but she ended up marrying his best friend instead. Nugent lingers on the edges of Ada and Charlie’s life forever, sticking around like a cobweb. One day, Veronica discovers Nugent “interfering” with Liam and she can trace the beginnings of his problems to this very day.

 

Ranging from the present to the past and aback again throughout, Veronica cherishes the memories she has of her brother, even if she often couldn’t wait to be rid of him. 

 

Enright’s writing is poetic and nuanced, leaving the reader with all the feels. She is a master at her craft.

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