Synopsis
The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. His sister, Veronica was there then, as she is now: keeping the dead man company, just for another little while. The "Gathering" is a family epic, condensed and clarified through the remarkable lens of Anne Enright's unblinking eye. It is also a sexual history: tracing the line of hurt and redemption through three generations - starting with the grandmother, Ada Merriman - showing how memories warp and family secrets fester. This is a novel about love and disappointment, about thwarted lust and limitless desire, and how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars. The "Gathering" sends fresh blood through the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the old with the shock of the new. As in all Anne Enright's work, fiction and non-fiction, this is a book of daring, wit and insight: her distinctive intelligence twisting the world a fraction, and giving it back to us in a new and unforgettable light.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2007

reviews:

"Muscular, agile, sometimes witty, sometimes hallucinogenic, often dark and lyrical... the Gathering is clearly the product of a remarkable intelligence"
- A.L. Kennedy, Guardian

"The writing is superb - bleak, truthful and controlled."
- The Times

"Anne Enright's style is as sharp and brilliant as Joan Didion's; the scope of her understanding is as wide as Alice Munro's; her sympathy for her characters is as tender and subtle as Alice McDermott's; her vision of Ireland is as brave and original as Edna O'Brien's."
- Colm Tóibín

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January 10th update:
My first read in 2008 and what a good start of the New Year it was! Finished it a couple of days ago and waited a bit to let it sink in, before I wrote a review. Now, a few days later I'm still quite incapable of doing so. I think I need to reread it first. Let's say, I was impressed and overwhelmed by it. This is the kind of book that leaves me speechless. Anne Enright has something "refreshingly different" in her style of writing. I certainly preferred it to "On Chesil Beach", which was short listed for this Man Booker Prize too (and expected to be the winner!).

Maybe not a novel for everybody. Some people might be shocked by certain scenes and bothered by the frequent use of the "f-word". I've also read reviews of people, who found it depressing. It did not bother, depress or shock me though. I loved it.

Before rereading it, I would like to see what other bookcrossers think, so I plan to send this travelling as a ring.

It's a small mass market paperback, 260 pages. (less than 250 grams).

guidelines:


Please:

• make a journal entry when the book arrives
• try to read it within a month
• PM the next on the list to ask for his/her address (hint: do that before you finished reading, sometimes it takes a while to contact people)
• make a new journal entry when finished, to let us know what you think of the book
• wrap it up well and send it on (please mention the date in your JE, if it's not that same day, or make a release note). Cheapest postal rate is fine.
• PM me in case of any problems/unforeseen delay. (please don't skip anyone without having done everything to reach the next on the list! If PMs are not being answered, try an ISO message in the forum!)
• Enjoy the book!

(For conditions to join, see this section in my profile )

Shipping list ( The final order has been juggled between geography, date of request and shipping limitations):

EUROPE ONLY
Please sign my Guestmap if you joined this ring

iliotropio Belgium
gabrielereads Netherlands => Europe
Qimp Netherlands => Europe
dutch-book Netherlands => ?
foxed Northern-Ireland UK => anywhere
Cassiopaeia Wales UK
Icila France
biblioknoef France => anywhere
pazyryk Portugal
hippolein Finland
annadvarna Greece=>Europe skipped
ana-b Netherlands

END of ring. Meanwhile I received a second copy. No need to send the book back to me.
Instead it will go to:
Emmeken Nederland=> voor OBCZ LUX in Nijmegen, the Netherlands <=== 9/9 it's here

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Note:

ajsmom from Canada started a ray and has taken over the North American takers for logistic reasons:
with this copy

RELEASE NOTES:

The ring will start in Belgium :-)

The book is with me now. Many thanks bestfriends!

You can't go wrong with a winner of the Man Booker. Definitely worth-reading!
On its way to gabrielereads. Enjoy!

Arrived in the mail today. Thanks for ringing and for sending it, too.

A strange thing has happened - I don't seem to be able to get through this book which I had been looking forward to a lot. If it was my own I would put it back on the shelf and try again later, but being a ringbook it has to travel on. I have pmmed Quimp for her address.

Gisteren op de bus gedaan naar Qimp.

The gathering arrived here today, together with a beautiful Hundertwasser postcard. Thank you, gabrielereads! After I finish my current read, I'll start on this one.

Because of some recommendations in the dutch BookCrossing forum, I was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately though, it couldn't hold my attention. I managed to read a little over 100 pages, but still reading seemed like a chore. Nonetheless, thank you very much for the generous act of ringing this book, bestfriends!

I'm PM-ing dutch-book for her address.

Sent this book to dutch-book on Tuesday 1 July.

I've received the book today. Really looking forward to reading it. Will try to finish the book as soon as possible.

Reminder:

I've PM'ed foxed but still haven't got an answer. Will try again and if I don't get an answer in a week, I will PM the next one on the list.

I wanted to send this book yesterday, but our postoffice was closed, so I've send the book today (27 september)

Thanks, dutch-book - The Gathering has arrived here safely! Looking forward to exploring Enright. And thanks for adding me to the ring, bestfriends.

The big family are home for their brother's funeral. It's a time for memories and all the small steps that have led them to today's events.
Enright writes with an ear for speech, and her narrator is not so much unflinching as unsympathetic, I found.
Altogether more cocks than I was expecting - she seems to mention everyone's! Her premise is that bodies determine our fate.
An interesting more than an enjoyable read, I found.
Thanks, bestfriends for including me in the ring.
Another funeral that explores the tensions between who we are and who others would like us to be opens Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty (nominated for the 1997 Booker), which I recently enjoyed.

In the post today to cassiopaeia

Thank you foxed arrived safely this morning. This will be my next read.
Lovely postcard of Ireland, thanks, a very suitable bookmark.

The title is very interesting, as it seems to infer a gathering of relatives, which you would expect for a funeral. They do materialise but do not as such, make a great contribution to the book. This is more a gathering of Veronica’s reflections and recriminations in relation to her brother Liam, her mother and other members of her family. This isn’t a book for everyone, if you want a beginning, middle and an end, then this is not for you. This isn’t a Frank McCourt type of Irish story, this is more vital and looks and delves well below the surface.

I can’t describe this writing as poetical or even beautiful, but Enright’s way of expressing thoughts and ideas, really grabs you, and makes you stop in your tracks. What I found so powerful about this book is the echo of similar feelings, and situations that I have experienced during times of grief and loss, albeit, in a much milder form. But here we have the reflections of a sibling who is in a state of shock and grieving for a brother who was this close to her -
‘There were eleven months between me and Liam. We came out of her on each other’s tails, one after the other, as fast as a gang-bang, as fast as an infidelity. Sometimes I think we overlapped in there, he just left early, to wait outside.’

I see Veronica as someone who is working through a period of indescribable grief, and guilt. In a large family she was the one closest to Liam but no one could save him from himself. He was as she is, on his own; you can feel her acute awareness of this mirrored in her relationship with her husband and to some degree her daughters. I think this is a temporary state of mind brought on by loss. How these deep insights will affect her actions eventually is anyone’s guess. What we are seeing is the internalisation of grief and loss and how it has affected this one person in particular.

I found this a powerful book and it certainly deserves re-reading at a more leisurely pace.

Thank you bestfriends for sharing. I already have Icila details, will be in the post tomorrow.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In the post today to Icila in France.

Thanks Cassiopaeia for the book, the card, the beautiful stamps and also...the mailbag. :)

Not an easy reading. Veronica was getting on my nerves a lot.

This book remind me of the french author Annie Ernaux, single child, who writes about her family.

Aren't all families psychotic ?

Thanks for sharing. PMing the next.

On its way to biblioknoef .

Found the Gathering in my mailbox yesterday when I came home. Thanks for sending it Icila and I am looking forward to reading it!

Finished the Gathering yesterday. Such a boring book. A story that could have been told in just a few pages. The characters stayed so vague that none of them left any impression while Veronica annoyed me with her selfishness.
If it weren’t for Enrights great style and the black humor I would have stopped reading after the first lines (that were rather promising). I wonder if she wrote any better books than this one.

Thanks for sharing it anyway!

Arrived! Thanks for sending it biblioknoef and for the ring bestfriends.

Sent today to hippolein.
And my apologies for keeping the book so much time.

The book arrived today safely in Helsinki. Thanks a lot pazyryk for sending it all the way to Finland.
One ringbook before this one, so it shouldn't take very long to get to start it.

Managed to finish the book over Easter, certainly not the easiest book I have read.
Thanks bestfriends for sharing it.
Contacted the next one for info, waiting for reply.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book continues today by mail in the direction of the Netherlands. Hope it gets out of Finland before the strike of the postal staff on Wednesday evening!

The book arrived today, thanks Hippolein for the postcard and Bestfriends for the ring. I have to finish another book before I start this one.

A beautiful story, but not an easy read. It took a while, but no regrets.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Emmeken for the OBCZ LUX in Nijmegen.

Received in the mail yesterday. Thanks ana-b, and bestfriends!!
Maybe I'll read it myself first, otherwise it will end up on the shelf of OBCZ-LUX within a few days.

I was planning on reading this book before leaving it at OBCZ-LUX. However, for some reason I just kept postponing it. I finally got to it a couple of weeks ago, only to discover this is just not my type of book... I didn't even finish it :-S
So, thanks a lot for sending it to me and I'll make sure this book will end up at the bookshelf of OBCZ-LUX shortly. This is still a hungry shelf so I'm sure it'll find a new, suitable reader. And hopefully, this reader will let us know what he/she thinks about this book...

On the bookshelf in LUX.