The Gathering by Anne Enright

This was one of the more disappointing books I have read in awhile. I am one who actually does often judge a book by its cover, or at least pick a book by its cover, and this one looked intriguing and even won an award. Who could go wrong? Although Enright's use of language is beautiful, the plot of this story about grief and deception in a large Irish family is lacking at best. I also found the main characters inconsistencies and contradictions to be distracting. While I realize that her inconsistencies are purposeful (so as to show the nature of childhood memories and the imagined stories we develop about our ancestors), I didn't trust the narrator's story because of it. This took me awhile to get through, but I finally did complete it and am glad to move on to the next book.