This is a rarity for me. I didn't finish this book.

Enright's writing style is authentic enough. I do sense a real person narrating. But the narrative just wasn't that special, didn't take me by the hand to places I cared enough to keep up with her on. Whatever build up and impact to the various events seemed to fizzle out.

My feeling about it is perhaps the worse thing I can say about a book: it simply wasn't worth my time.

Terrible. Fragmented literature.....boring characters...and we were given no liberty to know more about them but for the main character who is self-absorbed about her own trivial life. Hard to finish. Synopsis is fooling...won't ever recommend this author for any book club read! What a waste of paper and ink.

There was some clever writing; a few sentences that made you put the book down and savour the sentence just read, but overall not worth the time. Read the book because of the awards. Took effort to finish. I won't read anything else from this author.

The Gathering is the fourth novel I have read written by Irish author Anne Enright. It won the 2007 Man Booker Prize.
The novel involves the "inner journey" of the main character, the narrator, Veronica- and dives quickly from the present to the past and back again and takes place in England and Ireland. The title "The Gathering" refers to the narrator and her siblings gathering for the wake of their brother Liam. Liam is an alcoholic who committed suicide in the ocean. His mother and his eight siblings gather in Dublin for his wake. Veronica is 39 years old, and was closest with Liam. As she tries to make sense of her brother's death, she uncovers her family's dark and secretive past.
A difficult and dark read, you have to work hard to read this novel and enjoy it. I don't believe that this is a novel for the average reader.