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Sammy's Reviews > The Gathering
The Gathering
by
by
Please excuse me as I make a noise of annoyance, disgust, boredom and all around dissatisfaction... UGHARGHHHHUHHH. Don't even know how to spell that or if it makes any sense. Hey, that makes a nice segue into my review.
Let me start with the one perk I can honestly give this book. Anne Enright has a beautiful grasp of words but she doesn't know how to use them. She also had a wonderful gem of an idea for a story, but she didn't know how to develop it. Combine those two together you get a reader thinking, "I want to like this, but I don't know how." The Gathering could have easily been a beautiful, deep and touching novel, but unfortunately Enright fails at delivering that.
I found the story as a whole much too disconnected and disjointed. I constantly felt like I was being bounced around. By the time I got relatively comfortable in one scene I suddenly found myself in a completely different time and place with unfamiliar characters. It wasn't just the line of the story that was disjointed, but the actual writing itself. Actually, that might not be the best way to describe writing that is mostly run-on sentences and rambling thoughts, that's pretty much the opposite of disjointed, even so, it somehow still managed to feel that way.
The story wasn't even saved by it's characters. There wasn't a single fully developed, or even half developed character throughout the whole book. Even our main character, Veronica, remained two-demensional at best, despite having moments where I felt I should be feeling a connection with her. Rather it felt like I was standing awkwardly by someone I barely knew while they had an emotional breakdown, glancing occasionally over my shoulder wondering if I should leave them alone or dumbly pat them on the back. I think I was expected to be attatched to most of the characters, but I wasn't. I didn't feel sympathy for them, nor did I even like any of them. It made the book even more boring and uncomfortable.
It's a great disappointment to read a book you think has so much potential to only have it fall flat. If Enright has written any poetry I might be interested in reading that, I have an inkling she would make a fairly good poet, but I'm going to be staying away from any other novels she's written. Especially if they're anything like this.
Let me start with the one perk I can honestly give this book. Anne Enright has a beautiful grasp of words but she doesn't know how to use them. She also had a wonderful gem of an idea for a story, but she didn't know how to develop it. Combine those two together you get a reader thinking, "I want to like this, but I don't know how." The Gathering could have easily been a beautiful, deep and touching novel, but unfortunately Enright fails at delivering that.
I found the story as a whole much too disconnected and disjointed. I constantly felt like I was being bounced around. By the time I got relatively comfortable in one scene I suddenly found myself in a completely different time and place with unfamiliar characters. It wasn't just the line of the story that was disjointed, but the actual writing itself. Actually, that might not be the best way to describe writing that is mostly run-on sentences and rambling thoughts, that's pretty much the opposite of disjointed, even so, it somehow still managed to feel that way.
The story wasn't even saved by it's characters. There wasn't a single fully developed, or even half developed character throughout the whole book. Even our main character, Veronica, remained two-demensional at best, despite having moments where I felt I should be feeling a connection with her. Rather it felt like I was standing awkwardly by someone I barely knew while they had an emotional breakdown, glancing occasionally over my shoulder wondering if I should leave them alone or dumbly pat them on the back. I think I was expected to be attatched to most of the characters, but I wasn't. I didn't feel sympathy for them, nor did I even like any of them. It made the book even more boring and uncomfortable.
It's a great disappointment to read a book you think has so much potential to only have it fall flat. If Enright has written any poetry I might be interested in reading that, I have an inkling she would make a fairly good poet, but I'm going to be staying away from any other novels she's written. Especially if they're anything like this.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
February 1, 2008
–
Finished Reading
March 16, 2008
– Shelved
March 19, 2008
– Shelved as:
d-the-bad
Comments Showing 1-25 of 25 (25 new)
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Exactly!!! Anne Enright has been blacklisted by me after this one.
I agree completely. I picked this book up at a book exchange-glad I did not pay for it!
No, a very profound book that made me think. Dour, maybe, but thoughtful and beautifully written.
Absolutely agree. I hated it and abandoned it very quickly. I had read Anne Enright before and was not expecting such misery.
..pity you guys didn't get it. She's incredible.
I agree: a perfectly executed bore.
I am trying my best to go through the pages...OMG...what a laborious task it is...
Your review describes exactly my thoughts on this book.Like you, I used the words, potential and disappointment in the same sentence. I think that sums it up.
I'm 50 pages in and am thinking of just throwing in the towel. How I feel about it so far is perfectly summed up in this review.
Speak up, speak up, speak up the only one you will scare away is your future x husband. Why is Veronica speaking up and why is she non linear, crass at times, and angry at unsuspecting males like her husband? Could it have something to do with the sexual abuse she witnessed as a child and did not report to anyone? Who would she tell? If there is any estranged sadness and frustrated grief reading this book..it is because that is exactly how it feels to be part of a multi generational alcoholic family system. Liam was alcoholic. They were Irish.
Yep..that is exactly how an abuse survivor feels...not knowing how to use words...dissociations...no family members to mirror, reflect what she is feeling. She does not know the truth...or how to have a feeling..mother was vague..dad was unavailable...sounds like a multi generational alcoholic family system..If the novel seems boring...and dissastisfying...that reflect the frustrated grief and estranged sadness often experience in an Irish alcoholic family system.
You are at it Sammy. Up until now, I cannot recall any action apart from the boiling water on a stove or so.It was a book I had to conquer since I had started already. I thought I could find my bearing along the way but it ended in sighs of tiredness.I felt it was time wasted.
this review expresses my own thoughts quite closely! I will add though that I am convinced the author had God of Little Things in her mind while writing this... too many common elements.
Yes.... I will add my name to the list of people who feel similarly regarding this book. I didn't enjoy it one bit. The only reason I read the whole thing was that is was for my book club... Waste of time!!
I couldn't agree more...and I certainly could not have said it any better....I persevered to the "secret" and sadly am throwing in the towel...I'm tired if fighting with this book....not worth the effort! Too bad, it did look like it had promise,,,
That is what the characters did as well threw in the towel...The main character decided to befriend the headrest in her car rather then enter into the story too horrifying for her..as she felt that she colluded in her brother's death by not speaking up re: the sexual abuse her brother experienced in the hands of someone old enough to be his grandfather.
My Mom was sexually abused by a drunken uncle and no one ever talked about it. She knew what it felt to walk in the perpetrators shoes and grew to dislike her own body. in the second half of life she became an alcoholic and on her deathbed said "Why diidn't anyone speak up about the sexual abuse I experienced when I was only eight years old?".
I will not be silent about sexual abuse even in a book. The trance must be broken or the cycle will continue.
Speak up speak up speak up the only one you will scare away is your future x husband...the main character distanced herself from her husband and he seemed to be a decent man
You said it well!
You are evidently not supposed to like the characters so I don't know what gave you the idea that you should like the characters and that Enright had somehow not delivered this. I loved the book.
I’m currently reading this book. I agree with Sammy’s critique. Several pages had to be reread so I could try and understand her writing. I also felt I wanted to like this book, but I don’t so far. Yes, the premise of the story was interesting but not easily understandable for me.
I agree. What was the point?!
Considering The Gathering as an extended theatrical monologue greatly alleviates many of the frustrations you expressed. It is in the moment, raw, blunt, violent, and then suddenly soft, evocative, painful. Hearing it read by a great reader helps immensely.
Your review is perfect for stating how I felt about the book. One of few books that I couldn’t even bother trying to finish
Bored and uncomfortable...that sums it up for me.