The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Gathering by Anne Enright, 2007



This was one of the best, if not the best, books on memory I've ever read. Veronica, the narrator, goes back and forth through generations of time and perfectly captures the feelings of looking back on dark childhood memories. Her brother has died and her large Irish family comes together to mourn so we get back stories to all of the children and then see what happens in the present. The glimpses of different periods in the family's history we get at the beginning are intriguing and I plowed through the novel to find out the dark family secrets that led to the brother's death and the family's all-around dysfunction. I was disappointed in the ending, but still think it's some of the best writing I've enjoyed in years.