The Gathering (Enright novel)
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| The Gathering | |
 The Gathering book cover |
|
| Author | Anne Enright |
|---|---|
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
| Publication date | 3 May 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 272 pp (hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-224-07873-9 |
The Gathering is the fourth novel by Irish author Anne Enright. It won the 2007 Man Booker Prize, eventually chosen unanimously by the jury after having largely been considered an outsider to win the prize.[1][2] Although it received mostly favorable reviews on its first publication, sales of the book had been modest before it was named as one of the six books on the Man Booker Prize shortlist in September 2007. After winning the prize, sales more than doubled compared to sales before the announcement.[3][4][5] Enright described the book as "...the intellectual equivalent of a Hollywood weepie."[6]
The novel traces the narrator's inner journey, setting out to derive meaning from past and present events, and takes place in Ireland and England. Its title refers to the funeral of Liam Hegarty, an alcoholic who committed suicide in the sea at Brighton. His mother and eight of the nine surviving Hegarty children gather in Dublin for his wake. The novel's narrator is 39-year-old Veronica, the sibling who was closest to Liam. She looks through her family's troubled history to try to make sense of his death. She thinks that the reason for his alcoholism lies in something that happened to him in his childhood when he stayed in his grandmother's house. She uncovers uncomfortable truths about her family.[6][7][8]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Enright takes Booker Prize for Fiction. Ireland On-Line. (2007-10-16). Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
- ^ The Gathering wins the Man Booker Prize 2007. The Man Booker Prize (2007-10-16). Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
- ^ Rickett, Joel (2007-10-20), “The bookseller”, The Guardian, <http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2195365,00.html>. Retrieved on 2007-10-20
- ^ Lyall, Sarah (2007-10-17), “Anne Enright Wins Man Booker Prize”, New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/books/17cnd-booker.html>. Retrieved on 2007-10-17
- ^ Purcell, Bernard & Battersby, Eileen (2007-10-17), “Irish novelist beats the odds to win Booker Prize for 'The Gathering'”, The Irish Times, <http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/1017/1192565609148.html>. Retrieved on 2007-10-17
- ^ a b Lawless, Jill (2007-10-16), “Anne Enright Wins Booker Prize”, Washington Post, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600860.html>. Retrieved on 2007-10-17
- ^ “Low-profile literary purist gatecrashes Booker party”, Irish Independent, 2007-10-17, <http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/lowprofile-literary-purist-gatecrashes-booker-party-1198512.html>. Retrieved on 2007-10-17
- ^ Schillinger, Liesl (2007-09-30), “Liam's Wake”, New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Schillinger-t.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/E/Enright,%20Anne&oref=login>. Retrieved on 2007-10-17
[edit] External links
- Excerpt of The Gathering at the New York Times
- The Gathering wins the Man Booker Prize 2007
- Irish Independent review of The Gathering
- New York Times review of The Gathering
- The Guardian review of The Gathering
- Times Literary Supplement review of The Gathering
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Inheritance of Loss |
Man Booker Prize recipient 2007 |
Succeeded by TBA |
