I finally finished this Man Booker Prize winner yesterday. It's taken a long time - although it's my second book of the year, I have been reading it since I finished Chicken with Plums! However, this is not because it has been a drag, but instead because the writing has been so good I've been reading it little by little and enjoying it very much. I can understand why Enright won the prize (although I have not read any of the others yet, although I do have Ian McEwan's Chesil Beach by my bedside). It's a bittersweet tale, full of memory, re-readings of recollections, everyday observations, descriptions of mundane family routines. Some beautiful lines.
Inside the church they passed the paschal flame from candle to candle until it looked like the whole place was on fire: then they switched on the fluorescent lights.
How true, how true!
The Gathering refers to the funeral of one of the narrator's brothers, but most of the book, although it keeps touching back on that event, covers many years and many events. I was given this book as a gift from a book person ... it's been a great read, and I recommend it.
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