Review: The Gathering by Anne Enright

It is comforting to think of memory as a recording of past events that can be played back anytime. But the brain does not store memories – especially traumatic memories – in such an orderly and retrievable fashion. In The Gathering, Anne Enright grapples with the chaotic, fragmented, and twisted ways we remember the traumas of childhood.

The memories belong to Veronica, one of the nine surviving Hegarty siblings, gathered for the funeral of their brother Liam. Veronica tries to deal with her grief and make sense of her brother's death by piecing together their family history. She uses her imagination and objective clues to give context to distressing images from the time she and Liam lived with their grandmother.

Veronica's struggle is authentically idiosyncratic. Her grief and the secrets she carries drive some kooky behavior and alienate her from her husband, her mother, and her own daughters. She can be an unattractive, if believable, heroine.

Veronica's off-putting conduct and Enright's sometimes too-obtuse prose makes The Gathering a difficult book. But Enright earned her Booker prize for tackling a harrowing subject and concluding with the important lesson that a problem cannot be solved until it is acknowledged.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it. 

NOTES

The Gathering is one of the books I read for the MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) and the OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour).

Teaser Tuesday: Beast in View

June knocked on the door and waited, swaying a little, partly because the martini had been double, and partly because a radio down the hall was playing a waltz and waltzes always made her sway. Back and forth her scrawny little body moved under the cheap plaid coat.

-- Beast in View by Margaret Millar.  This won the Edgar Award for best mystery in 1956, the third year the award was given.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Dolce Bellezza is hosting in June, where she also just launched the seventh Japanese Literature Challenge.  Be sure to visit her elegant and inspiring blog. 

I ended up with a huge stack of books last week.

First, I went to a lunch event where Alyce Cornyn-Selby from Portland's Hat Museum was the speaker.  She is a real live-wire!  In addition to restoring her 1910 mansion and founding the Hat Museum, she has driven across the country in an old roadster with no top (the car, not her), and written over a dozen books, including one I got:



What's Your Sabotage? The Last Word in Overcoming Self-Sabotage by Alice Cornyn-Selby.

Second, I stopped by to see my friend Rachel at Second Glance Books because she has decided to close shop in July and redirect her time, talent, and treasure to other book-related ventures, like the Rose City Used Book Fair.  Follow the Second Glance facebook page for further developments.  I walked out with some great books, as always:



The Elizabeth David Cookery Book Set, which includes French Provincial Cooking, Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking, & Italian Food -- five of David's classic books on cooking, with thousands of recipes.




Here's How, Mixed Drinks by W. C. Whitfield (Author) and Tad Shell (Illustrator), with a wood cover.



Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark, an Edgar Award winner.



A Private View by Anita Brookner



Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Third,  I hit an estate sale where I found a treasure trove of vintage mystery paperbacks, some with really cool old Penguin covers.  I ended up with quite a stack of Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, and Ngaio Marsh books, all perfect for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block.

What books came into your house last week?

Kitchen Remodel, Week Fourteen: Let There Be Light!

We got light fixtures, knobs, and pulls this week.  With all those details in, it is hard to accept that we still have no tile, so are a long way from finishing.

I love the old fashioned "Edison" blubs in these Schoolhouse Electric fixtures.  One of Portland's oddest but best stores is Sunlan, home of "the light bulb lady," where you can buy any kind of light bulb ever made.  These look as much like the artisanal light bulbs on Portlandia as you can get.

Two books I read this week had a cooking theme.  The Hills of Tuscany by Ferenc Máté was a typical but still wonderful ex-pat memoir about a couple who moved to an old country house outside of the village of Montepulciano.  There are all kinds of descriptions of Tuscan food and wine that made me want to stomp grapes and smoke my own prosciutto.

Son of Holmes was an early effort by John Lescroart, who went on to write a successful mystery series, and spin offs, set in San Francisco and featuring lawyer and sometimes bartender Dismas Hardy. 

Son of Holmes is set in France in the early days of WWI, where a master spy rumored to be the son of Sherlock Holmes is under cover as a chef in a provincial town.  He drinks a lot of beer -- a LOT of beer -- and putters in the kitchen, but there isn't much discussion about the food he is supposedly cooking. 

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginnings: Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Dale Crowe Junior told Kathy Baker, his probation officer, he didn't see where he had done anything wrong.

-- Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard. 

I haven't read an Elmore Leonard book in years.  I o.d.ed on them a while back so had to take a long break.