The Gathering and A Thousand Splendid Suns

I have finished two books recently, having read the last one in two days. We'll start with The Gathering which took me a bit longer.

The Gathering by Anne Enright is basically a tale of a woman who is going through a tragedy. I found it very difficult to read. It wasn't because I didn't the story engaging-I could in fact understand a lot of the family dynamics she brought into focus as she too has many siblings. I mostly had a hard time reading it because it depressed me on so many levels. You have to deal with the subject of the book, which is loss, and how people cope with it-which this woman does not do very well. She goes into her family relationships, none of which sound very healthy, and then speaks about her own family, which she seems to neglect. She places her children as the highlight of her existence however fails to connect with them, the same way perhaps her own mother fails to connect with her. I finished the last few chapters rapidly as I just wanted it over and done with. I ended the book wondering if this woman had any friends. It made me sad as it left me feeling that all relationships are doomed to failure, at some point in time. I was glad when I was done reading it.

A Thousand Splendid Suns was a different story. Written by the author of Kite Runner, this is a book about several women who live in Afghanistan that spans several decades. They each lead different lives in the beginning yet at some point all suffer the same repression, in one form or another. Parts of the book are predictably disturbing but I found myself unable to put the book down. I want to say the book was good but for some reason I am not able to commit to this statement. I think because I wish it had gone into more detail about the feelings associated with wearing a burka and having to live a life where men are kings and women are worthless. That said though, I think if the author had gone into too much detail about this the book would have been more political and heavy then perhaps the author wanted. Regardless, I really enjoyed reading this book-it was the perfect way to spend a long train ride and a rainy Sunday afternoon.