Among this years Man Booker Prize shortlist, Anne Enright's novel The Gathering can be summed up as The Irish One. But hers is not a land filled with alcoholic fathers and penny whistles. "Anne Enright, born in Dublin in 1962, gives us an Irish fiction that leads out of tradition into something zestily new," says the Telegraph. That seems to mean sardonic observations such as this one: "Emily is a bit of a cat and cats, I always think, only jump into your lap to check if you are cold enough, yet, to eat."
The Gathering is the story of Veronica Hegarty, who is drawn back into her sprawling Dublin clan's orbit following the death of her brother Liam. Familiarity ensues.
As appears to be the case with Nicola Barker's Darkmans (see my posting here), the emphasis in Enright's novel is on the writing more than on the plot. The Independent called it "slight in storyline, perhaps, but prodigious in the telling." Or as the reviewer in the Guardian said more obliquely, "She has uncovered the truth that sometimes our great adventures are interior." (Personally, I found the Guardian's Booker Club blog entry to be more opinionated and therefore more useful.)--David E
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