The Gathering - discussion guide

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Summary

As a stereotypical Irish family gather for the wake of their brother, dark secrets from the past begin to emerge. It doesn’t sound like a literary masterpiece, but Anne Enright’s novel The Gathering is full of surprises. Narrated in the first person, the events unfold through the eyes of Veronica, a middle-aged woman whose life is thrown into confusion by the death of her beloved brother Liam. As the dysfunctional Hegarty family assembles, Veronica is compelled to find meaning in the tragedy which draws them together. Following her quest, we are given an unflinching portrait of the flawed relationships which have shaped the life of Veronica and her relatives. However, it is deeper into her past that Veronica traces the roots of her brother’s troubled life. She must sift through her fractured memories and confront the truths lurking there before she can make sense of what has happened and find a way to move on.

Background

Considered an outside chance in the shortlist for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Enright surprised many by winning the award.[1] Since her victory, sales of The Gathering have more than doubled,[2] but critical response to the novel has been divided. While some would describe it as ‘the product of a remarkable intelligence, combined with a gift for observation and deduction,’[3] other reviewers were less enthralled by The Gathering, finding its graphic emphasis on the physicality of sex unappealing.[4] Enright herself describes her story as ‘a real weepie - the intellectual equivalent of a Hollywood movie’.[5]

Author Anne Enright was born in Dublin in 1962. She studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and worked as a TV producer and director in Ireland before becoming a full-time writer and mother.[6] The Gathering is Enright’s fourth novel, and she has also published a collection of short stories as well as the non-fiction work, Making Babies. Her last few books, Enright claims, have a common theme of ‘blood, which is to say in family, biological connection; the way family begins in the body, as does love.’[7] Family connections, love, and the physical reality which characterises all human experiences and emotions are very strong themes in The Gathering. An often bleak and disturbing novel, it exposes the drama that exists within ordinary lives, while also raising questions about the meaning and significance of those lives. Through Veronica, Enright questions what is real, and how we can know the past or other people with any certainty. She probes the nature of truth, and also the nature of humanity, asking whether we are capable of making free choices and deciding our destiny, and if there is anything more to us than our flawed and mortal bodies.

Anne Enright expresses some interesting views in the London Review of Books , and talks in depth about her life and latest book in an interview for The Independent .

Questions for discussion

1. What did you think of the novel? How did you feel about Veronica?

2. The secret which haunts Veronica is not revealed until half way through the book. What is the effect of the revelation and its position within the story?

3. ‘I would like to write down what happened in my grandmother’s house the summer I was eight or nine, but I am not sure if it really did happen.’ (p. 1)

The novel opens with Veronica’s admission that her memories, on which the story is based, are not reliable. How far do you think her account can be trusted? What implications are made about the nature of reality through this method of narrating events? How do you decide what is real and what to believe?

4. At the end of The Gathering, Veronica decides to tell the truth even though ‘it is too late for the truth’ (p. 259). What does the book say about the importance of truth? Do you think it is always better to know and tell the truth?

5. How effective did you find Anne Enright’s descriptive writing? Why do you think so much emphasis is placed on more graphic physical aspects of life, death, and sex in the novel?

6. ‘Sister Benedict told us to take Jesus “into our hearts” and I did, no problem. I check my heart now, and I find that there is still a feeling there, of something hot and struggling’ (p. 229)

Part of a longer, intriguing digression on the subject of belief, this quote describes the experience of accepting Jesus in terms of a physical feeling. Have you ever had a similar experience to the one described? What does it mean to ‘take Jesus into your heart’? Do you think this is a helpful way to describe what it means to become a Christian?

7. How did you feel about the characters of Ada Merriman and Lamb Nugent? Did you find them convincing?

8. ‘I limit the telly – I say it is for their own good, but really it is for me. I like to talk to them. If I don’t talk to them I think I will die of something – call it irrelevance – I think I will just fade away.’ (p. 37-38)

How do you feel about Veronica’s relationship with her children? How is her parenting affected by her own childhood experiences? What role do children play within the novel?

9. ‘Just at this moment, I find that being part of a family is the most excruciating possible way to be alive.’ (p. 243)

How are families portrayed in the story? Could you relate to Veronica’s family experiences? When might it be particularly painful to be part of a family?

10. Did you find Veronica’s response to her brother’s death convincing? To what extent do you think Veronica is right to feel responsible for what happens to Liam? Why does his death cause her to question so much of her life?

11. How important is the idea of forgiveness to Veronica? To what extent is it necessary to her happiness? How does she change during the course of the novel, and what kind of life do you think awaits her as the story ends?

12. Veronica describes herself as, ‘sitting on a church bench in my own meat: pawed, used, loved, and very lonely’ (p. 244). What does this tell us about how Veronica feels about herself and her identity? To what extent is the body an essential part of what makes us human? How would you define yourself?

13. Examining her memories, Veronica traces the cause of her brother’s death to events that happened in his childhood. To what extent do you think our actions and futures are determined by past events? What other factors may influence our decisions and destiny? Do you think it is possible for people to make free choices? Why or why not?

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