The Gathering

De: Anne Enright

Narrado por: Terry Donnelly

Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2007

Regarded as one of her country's foremost voices, Irish author Anne Enright makes a fresh mark on a rich literary tradition. The Gathering is a deeply insightful family saga, steeped in secrets and intrigue, unfolding over three generations.

©2007 Ann Enright (P)2008 Recorded Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Enright's hypnotic prose turns...desperation into something fierce and beautiful." ( Booklist)
"A melancholic love and rage bubbles just beneath the surface of this Dublin clan, and Enright explores it unflinchingly." ( Publishers Weekly)

Dark side of large families

Not just fun & games. The insiders view to a grieving family with secrets within secrets

Depressing and tedious

This is tediously written and the narrator is depressed and depressing. It seems to touch on all the stereotypes of the Irish: alcoholism, dysfunctional families, abuse. More than half way into it, I just couldn't take the narrative any more or the constant switching from present to past and the it-might-have-happened-this-way approach. Ugh!

Story drags on...and on and on!

After two hours I had to admit defeat--the story still hadn't begun to take off. The narrator within the story (Veronica?) was not one with whom I could empathize. It might eventually have gotten better, but I don't have enough years left in my life to find out.

Told well, Narrator is a bit slow

The narration was a bit slow and the pauses too long for me. I put it at a speed of 1.70X and it was much more natural.

Good narrating could not salvage this book!

Terry Donnelly does a very good job with the performance of a difficult novel. I liked her voice, but could not really enjoy it because of the writing. I hope to be able to find Terry Donnelly doing other narrations that will do her performance skills justice.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the book itself for reading or listening because of the story.