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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/998133.The_Gathering?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Gathering" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1180103812m/998133.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/998133.The_Gathering?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Gathering</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52832.Anne_Enright">Anne Enright</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11773933?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars Veronica and the remainder of her large family, are about to gather at the family home for the wake of her brother. As she prepares for this reunion she tries to decide which of her memories are real and which are imagined. There is something that Veronica remembers that may or may not have happened in her grandmother’s house. She skitters around it – teases us with what she may or may not have seen, then deliberately goes off to something that she may, or may not remember; something that may or may not be related, something that may or may not be significant, until she decides – enough is enough, then she hits us with what she thinks occurred – then goes right back to her possible memories with the fumes of alcohol stinking up the clarity.
 
 This is a book of pieced together memories, or an attempt at memories. A central question in the book is what events in your life make you who you are? Reading the book is like walking through a murky, foggy alley, feeling your way around; touching some things, smelling something slightly familiar, but still not quite knowing where you are or where you are going. At one point the narrator, Veronica, tells us how a part of her remains at the point where she is remembering: 
 
 “And a part of me goes with her when the car drives away. Another part of me is still, these years later, walking along the road where the stranger set us down.”
 
 All through the story Veronica fiddles with her memories until she gets a version she can live with – a version that gives her comfort or explains things for her. But her biggest struggle is to decide what things in her past or in her brother’s past, or in her mother’s past, caused happiness or unhappiness. It’s hard enough knowing if things happening in the present make you happy; if things in the present are good or bad things; if things in the present should be stopped or continued – much less whether things that happened in the past, things you remember or think you remember made you happy or if you simply tolerated it. 
 
 The book also explores the way that you can completely forget some aspects of your life, your 21st birthday, how you met a certain person, what color your first boyfriend’s eyes were, but some memories just will not go away – they haunt you, they are constantly with you. 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/186853?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Melody's review
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bookshelves: bookgroup

Veronica and the remainder of her large family, are about to gather at the family home for the wake of her brother. As she prepares for this reunion she tries to decide which of her memories are real and which are imagined. There is something that Veronica remembers that may or may not have happened in her grandmother’s house. She skitters around it – teases us with what she may or may not have seen, then deliberately goes off to something that she may, or may not remember; something that may or may not be related, something that may or may not be significant, until she decides – enough is enough, then she hits us with what she thinks occurred – then goes right back to her possible memories with the fumes of alcohol stinking up the clarity.

This is a book of pieced together memories, or an attempt at memories. A central question in the book is what events in your life make you who you are? Reading the book is like walking through a murky, foggy alley, feeling your way...more Veronica and the remainder of her large family, are about to gather at the family home for the wake of her brother. As she prepares for this reunion she tries to decide which of her memories are real and which are imagined. There is something that Veronica remembers that may or may not have happened in her grandmother’s house. She skitters around it – teases us with what she may or may not have seen, then deliberately goes off to something that she may, or may not remember; something that may or may not be related, something that may or may not be significant, until she decides – enough is enough, then she hits us with what she thinks occurred – then goes right back to her possible memories with the fumes of alcohol stinking up the clarity.

This is a book of pieced together memories, or an attempt at memories. A central question in the book is what events in your life make you who you are? Reading the book is like walking through a murky, foggy alley, feeling your way around; touching some things, smelling something slightly familiar, but still not quite knowing where you are or where you are going. At one point the narrator, Veronica, tells us how a part of her remains at the point where she is remembering:

“And a part of me goes with her when the car drives away. Another part of me is still, these years later, walking along the road where the stranger set us down.”

All through the story Veronica fiddles with her memories until she gets a version she can live with – a version that gives her comfort or explains things for her. But her biggest struggle is to decide what things in her past or in her brother’s past, or in her mother’s past, caused happiness or unhappiness. It’s hard enough knowing if things happening in the present make you happy; if things in the present are good or bad things; if things in the present should be stopped or continued – much less whether things that happened in the past, things you remember or think you remember made you happy or if you simply tolerated it.

The book also explores the way that you can completely forget some aspects of your life, your 21st birthday, how you met a certain person, what color your first boyfriend’s eyes were, but some memories just will not go away – they haunt you, they are constantly with you.
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message 1: by Pat

04/19/2008 08:20AM

Ouch.
Pat