Always meant to come back to this (been having a bit of a MN break ). I did finish The Gathering but it took me a very long time as I kept finding excuses not to read it. TBH I was pleased when it finished.

I have since read On Chesil Beach and IMO it was a fantastic read!

I'm just adding my thoughts a little later than expected.
Still finishing the book but popped onto the thread to see what others thought.
I read her book about having babies 'Making Babies' I think it was called , and I found 'The Gathering' similar.
Interesting, diverting for several seconds and then gone from my mind.
I agree with the fact that she managed to narrate the story in the way that Anne's thoughts would have been , rambling, incoherent, etc but I felt nothing really for any of the characters and found it difficult to engage with the book.
It was like emotional vomit.
And always when you read a book about family life, and you are waiting for some revelation, the fact that it is sexual abuse is a little overdone. Tired and it feels like it is there for effect rather than adding to the emotional tapestry.
Broken characters don't always need some seminal moment to hang the events of their lives on.
I will persevere to finish it , but will be returning to some classic fiction after this. I am amazed this won the booker prize.

Interesting discussion, and I am glad it was not only me who found this one quite hard going! I will be eagerly awaiting the results of the vote to get the next one (although I think the one I wanted is losing....boo!)

Well, I'm in the middle of talks with Anne's publicist to see if she can answer some questions for us via email. So furcoatnonics, I'll put your ones into my list - and add any others that anyone puts forward - post whatever you'd like to ask Anne here, and I'll let you know how we're progressing...

I am desperate to ask her if the abuse is meant to be a fact or not, but I have a suspicion she wouldn't answer that directly.

I also want to know if the husband was supposed to be unfaithful.

Finish it - its only short.

not shohsa nonics, though she has spotted you

don't worry I haven't been in tea shop for ages but nice to know you can pop in whenever

LOL furcoatandnoknickers, the other option is to take it with me when I am away at the weekend with the intention of finishing it and leave it in the hotel?

mean

mrs spoon. I would finish it if I were you. Not that theres anything massivly revealing or spectacular, but it does meen you can give it away! If I dont finish a book it just sits on the shelf taunting me as the book I couldnt finish.....might be a bit ocd???just a thought

I haven't read all the comments because I haven't finished the book (it has taken me the better part of the month to get 2/3 through ).

To be completely honest this book doesn't do it for me, I don't know whether to bother finishing. Although at times the observations are stunningly sharp it just appears a bit of a ramble to me and just as I think I am getting to grips with a part of the book it turns out it didn't happen, it is making me made, although I totally understand what the author is trying to achieve as we all remember events differently and particularly children end up with a skewed idea of what happened during childhood.

Bottom line, so far it doesn't work for me and I'm not sure if I can be bothered to finish it.