The Gathering

July 23, 2007
In the taut latest from Enright (What Are You Like?
), middle-aged Veronica Hegarty, the middle child in an Irish-Catholic family of nine, traces the aftermath of a tragedy that has claimed the life of rebellious elder brother Liam. As Veronica travels to London to bring Liam’s body back to Dublin, her deep-seated resentment toward her overly passive mother and her dissatisfaction with her husband and children come to the fore. Tempers flare as the family assembles for Liam’s wake, and a secret Veronica has concealed since childhood comes to light. Enright skillfully avoids sentimentality as she explores Veronica’s past and her complicated relationship with Liam. She also bracingly imagines the life of Veronica’s strong-willed grandmother, Ada. A melancholic love and rage bubbles just beneath the surface of this Dublin clan, and Enright explores it unflinchingly.

Winner of the 2007 Booker Prize for fiction, Irish author Enright's examination of the seemingly insignificant moments that shape lives is at once visceral, bleak, sensual, and lyrical. The story's narrator is Veronica, a woman whose recollections are eloquent, poetic, and laced with deeply held resentments. Her brother, Liam, has just walked into the sea and drowned himself, and Veronica tries to make sense of his suicide. Terry Donnelly's somber, ethereal tones match the dreamlike quality of Veronica's remembrances of her Catholic girlhood, the family of 12 brothers and sisters, the mother who is so overburdened that she can't remember Veronica's name, and the incident Veronica believes sent Liam to his watery grave. Enright's language is gorgeous, and Donnelly's performance captures every subtlety. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine