The Gathering Darkness

THE GATHERING DARKNESS

by Thomas Gallagher

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1953

 

Date Read: September 14, 2021

 

The McPeek family, solidly middle-class with excellent future prospects due to shrewd stock-market investments, live a somewhat idyllic life with an apartment in New York and summers spent at the shore. Peg, their firstborn, although not John’s biological daughter, has just recovered from a long quarantine from scarlet fever. Sheila, not allowed to be with her sister during this time, is at the shore with her father, soaking up his undivided attention.

 

Sheila isn’t just a bitch, she’s absurdly cruel. A lack of her mother’s affection doesn’t necessarily warrant the absolutely abhorrent behavior she shows her family. She seems to thrive off the misery she causes, which in my book, makes her a sociopath. Having to beg her to be good on Peg’s engagement night just shows how much she is holding her family hostage to her spiteful behavior.

 

After a while, though, reading about Sheila chasing her own tail becomes a little tedious. The thoughts she has and the dialogue, particularly with George after the masquerade party became tiresome and mind-numbing. I get that Gallagher is showing her unraveling but couldn’t there be a short-cut to madness? Just get her there already. We know she’s crazy as a loon. Why bedraggle the point?

 

Peg, married to Bill, isn’t much better. She has a shopping habit that has her opening credit lines behind her husband’s back. When he eventually finds out about it, he is completely defeated and Gallagher leaves an uncertainty about whether their marriage will endure this deception.

 

Overall, however, I find the caricature of these two girls a little hard to swallow. I know plenty of people who have had questionable parenting who do not turn out so self-centered and immature. Neither Peg nor Sheila ever quite grow up and, of course, the ending shows Sheila descending once and for all into an abyss of madness that she is unlikely to recover from. I’m left wondering what was the point?

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