The Gathering by Anne Enright

Sara Coe recommended this book to me, so I put it on my library queue. It was the story of an Irish family who come together when one of the 12 adult children dies. I expected it to be an easy read with familiar themes. Instead, it was an incredibly unusual book.

The writing reminded me of what happens in my head when I am alone in the car for several hours - the narrator meanders through several years and interactions and episodes in no discernible order. But by the end of the book a cohesive story had come together. Like with a few books lately, I was tricked into thinking the book was about one character (the dead brother) when actually the protagonist emerges as the narrator as the story unfolds. If pressed, I'd describe it as a coming-of-age novel about a middle-aged woman.

This book won the Man Booker Prize in 2007 - I liked it but didn't think it was the best thing I had read all year. I wonder if I could have identified it as a prizewinner if I hadn't known.