INTRODUCTION
The
book that I have reviewed here is Anne Enright’s The Gathering. This is
the fourth novel of Enright where she has delicately dealt with her relation
with her brother, around whose life and death the novel revolves. It was
published on 3 May, 2007. The major reason why I chose this book for a review
is author’s incredible achievement in winning, The Man Booker Prize of
2007 for it.
As
said above, The Gathering was published on 3 May, 2007. It is written in
English and depicts the inner struggle of writer to find the real cause behind
her brother’s death. As Enright was not a famous writer, this book failed to
grab much of the readers until it won The Man Booker Prize of 2007. The novel comprise of 39 chapters without any
title. The novel even don’t contain any prologue or epilogue, it just waves
through and out. It is written in a first person singular tone and the narrator
is a 39 year old woman named Veronica.
The
novel begins with the narrator telling about an incident that she witnessed
when she was eight at her Grandmother’s place but then leaves it there leaping
to the present time where she is with her two daughters, Emily and Rebecca. In
the later chapters we find she is visiting her mother’s place and has to
perform a serious task of breaking news about her brother’s, Liam, death to her
mother. Meanwhile she informs the readers that her mother has given birth to 12
children and had seven miscarriages. Out
of these twelve two are dead and she is there to tell about the death of a
third child who was closest to her.
“The
seeds of my brother’s death were sown many years ago. The person who planted
them is long dead – . . .” and with this sentence she takes us back to the time
when her grandmother, Ada, was of nineteen and Lamb Nugent twenty-three. Nugent
is fond of Ada who was working at a hotel in 1925. But, it so happened that Ada
married Charles, leaving Nugent forever as her good family acquaintance.
The
story comes back to the time when Veronica is carrying out the responsibility
of claiming the dead body of her dear brother. She then also gives description
about her married life. She is married to Tom, a good husband overall, who
somehow fails to satisfy her psychologically. Veronica lives a weird life; left
her job, lays awake at night writing this book, goes to sleep in the morning
and avoids her husband as much as possible.
Now
she goes back to the time when she is eight and Liam nine and they are at Ada’s
home during holidays along with Kitty her younger sister. There every Friday
she saw Nugent visit Ada and bring chocolates for children. Veronica thought that
Ada was a prostitute in her narrow mind of a child.
Veronica
comes to know that Liam died of drowning. Liam had stones in his pocket that
means he committed suicide. Liam had never been an obedient child and was a
black sheep of the family. Once during a quarrel at home he even threw a knife
which missed mother. Liam lived a life of an alcoholic, continuously changing
his dwelling, each worst than the other. He had many affairs and had a child
from one named Sarah. The name of his son is Rowen, who comes to the picture
only near the climax when the rituals of Liam’s funeral are performed.
In
the middle of the novel Veronica reveals the bitter reality of how Nugent
physically abused Liam when they went to Ada’s place in Holidays. Liam was
physically used by Nugent to satisfy his hunger of sexual intercourse. Veronica
considers this act as a reason behind evil and distinguished nature of Liam.
Later
on she finds few letters at her mother’s home which were sent from Nugent to
Ada. Nugent was Ada’s landlord and in those letters he sounded like cruel
owner.
Veronica
in the end leaves her husband and family to start a new life.
This
novel is a journey of narrator’s mind; her strive to go into the past and bringing
out some of the incidents though vague but important. Enright is well poised in
her writing and knows where to control her pen. She has dealt with the issues
of marriage, sex, family, relationships very ardently. The way story leaps from
past to present to future even, from facts to fiction and also from clarity and
vagueness of memories is remarkable.
The
story reveals page by page, episode after episode with something new at each
end. The lapses of time is merged so smoothly making readers pass on the roads
of it easily.
Not
a single character is left undefined by the author. This novel is a family saga
and the repercussions of one on the other. Entire family of Veronica-the
Hegarty gathers at the wake of her brother Liam which gives the novel its
title.
The
novel also comes out with some epic-philosophical lines. Such as:
“We are human being in raw. Some
survive better than the others, that is all.” (Pg-216)
“People do not change, they are
merely revealed.” (Pg- 252)
The
major characters of the novel are the narrator herself and Liam.
i)
Veronica
The
narrator of the story is a woman of 39 and is fighting between her present and
past making her future worth. She is an obedient daughter but an unsatisfied
wife. She travels through the memory lane with her dead brother. She most of
the time makes an imaginary ghost form of Liam.
ii)
Liam
A
character, which is dead in the novel, is alive in his sister’s thoughts and
memories. He is physically abused at nine by his grandmother’s landlord. This
had a scar on his psyche and with an urge to get rid of it he commits blunder
in his entire life and finally suicide.
The
novel is full of minor but important characters. Enright through Veronica has
described all the minor characters keenly. First there is Ada who seems both
smart and helpless. There is Charles, a dedicated husband of Ada. Nugent, a
negative character, is someway responsible for death of Liam. Then there are
siblings of Veronica - Midge, Bea, Ernest, Stevie, Ita, Mossie, Kitty, Alice
and the twins Ivor and Jem. Veronica’s mother is not a wise woman and so she
thinks of her father, a strict catholic. Then it’s Tom, Veronica’s husband and
her children.
This
novel is not the one which pours out a message directly. It is a descriptive
one.
We
can put light on the horrible incident that took place in Liam’s life for
getting the message of the novel. A child when abused in anyways in his/her
childhood lives an entire life with its burden. And when they are not able to
get rid of it, they free their life.
And
yes, the climax does give us a message through the decision of her life that
Veronica takes. To live the life in the way she wants. She yearns to live a
normal life where she can sleep at night and wakes in the morning like normal
people.
MY READING EXPERIENCE
Oh!
The reading of this novel was an experience rarely forgotten. It is not an
ordinary novel with some cliché and easy vocabulary. It was a perspiring task.
Even though reaching the middle of the novel, I wasn’t able to grasp the theme.
But then the way it turned up, I don’t actually remember where I was left
detached from it. It took me more and more deep within and with the characters
and episodes.
It
has undoubtedly improved my taste of reading and choice of books.
Well,
in this review I have tried my level best to give justice to the book. To read
this book is not everyone’s cup of it in India. Sorry to say this but readers
here are still forming a reading habit due to which they prefer easily read
material not one which challenge their reading skills. The Gathering is dark
but a worthy and the best work of Enright.
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVELIST
Anne
Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an author
from Dublin, Ireland. She graduated from the University of East Anglia's
Creative Writing Course.
She is skilled in all forms of writings and has published essays, short
stories, a non-fiction book and four novels. She worked as a director and
producer of a television programme before she took writing as her full-time
profession. Enright's first novel, The
Wig My Father Wore, was published in 1995. It deals with the theme of
love, motherhood and Roman Catholicism. Her second novel was What
Are You Like? in 2000 with a story of twin sisters who were separated
at the time of birth and were raised at altogether different places. Then arrived
was her novel, The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch (2002),
which is a fictional account of life of Eliza Lynch. Her next work was a
collection of candid and humorous essays about childbirth and motherhood, Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood
(2004). And her fourth novel was The Gathering (2007) which brought
her to limelight from a low profile writer.
