Anne Enright (Discovered and Revealed)
Two or three weeks ago I was in need of something to read. The university library was not immediately accessible to me, so I walked to the nearest bookstore and began to browse the shelves.
In the process, I came across something entitled The Gathering, by Anne Enright, an Irish writer I had never heard of before. The cover informed me that the book had won the 2007 Booker Prize. I opened it and read the first couple of sentences: “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. I need to bear witness to an uncertain event.”
I closed the book, took it to the cashier, paid the price listed on the back cover, and went home.
After finishing Enright’s novel—a story about memory, family secrets, and suicide (among other things)—I knew I wanted to blog about it.
Because I usually use videos in my blogs, I went online and tried to find something about Enright, preferably her talking about the book or her modus operandi or her philosophy of life. I was surprised to discover that there are almost no clips of her on the Internet.
(I wonder if this means that she is a very private person, someone who shuns the limelight despite being immensely talented?)
I eventually found a video to include. In it, she is speaking of her participation in a charitable program, one often referred to as The Katin Project
.
After watching the clip, it occurred to me that I had learned more about Enright—about her concerns as a woman and mother (for other women and mothers) and about her views on the importance of sharing one’s story of suffering with others—than I perhaps would have learned while watching her talk about writing.
At any rate, I encourage you to watch the video and then check out Enright’s books. By the way, she’s also published a work of nonfiction, a volume called Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood.
That’s one I’ll be sure to get my hands on.
