"People do not change, they are merely revealed."
The Gathering revolves around the Hegarty family as the nine surviving children come together for the wake of their brother Liam, whose death conceals a long-held secret. Veronica, his sister, retrieves his body and stays by his side, safeguarding the shared secret—an event that transpired in their grandmother's house during the winter of 1968. The story explores the themes of grief, loss, betrayal, memory and the lasting impact of family secrets. The ripple effects of trauma and abuse are also explored in a unique yet insightful way.
This book has a very disjointed narrative style, which I think is a deliberate choice by the author. Enright uses a nonlinear structure, where Veronica's memories and reflections jump back and forth in time. This style can be disorienting, as it tends to pull you out of the main storyline, which I suppose is intentional, as it portrays the fragmented nature of memory itself. Veronica's recollections are often triggered by seemingly insignificant details, which again is used to show how our minds process memories and emotions. I think the disjointed narrative style makes this a more demanding read, so this novel may not appeal to those who prefer a more linear and straightforward storytelling approach.
While I found this narrative style a bit confusing at times, I have to say that Enright's prose is truly remarkable. The writing in this novel is poetic and elegant, and Enright gives us many quotable lines that will stay with me for a while. I will leave some quotes I love from this novel down below.
FAVOURITE QUOTES FROM THE GATHERING BY ANNE ENRIGHT
“I have no place left to live but in my own heart.”
“There are so few people given us to love. I want to tell my daughters this, that each time you fall in love it is important, even at nineteen. Especially at nineteen. And if you can, at nineteen, count the people you love on one hand, you will not, at forty, have run out of fingers on the other. There are so few people given us to love and they all stick.”
“We do not always like the people we love- we do not always have that choice.”
“I do not think we remember our family in any real sense. We live in them instead”
“Her past is behind her, her future is of little concern. She moves towards the grave, at her own speed.”
“I have no place left to live but in my own heart.”
“He had beautiful manners. Which, if you ask me, was mostly a question of saying nothing, to anyone, ever.”
“I have been falling for months. I have been falling into my own life, for months. And I am about to hit it now.”
“I think you know everything at eight. But is is hidden from you, sealed up, in a way you have to cut yourself open to find.”
I read this as part of my Reading All The Booker Prize Winners project. Enright won the Booker Prize for The Gathering in 2007.
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