Uh, no thanks – I’ll go for Dear America! (updated 4/25/01)

A Gathering of Days – ah, does that bring back sweet childhood memories? Perhaps, but not for me! I know someone is gasping in shock; you mean Greatpilgrim, the ultimate reviewer of classics, is criticizing a Newberry Medal winner? The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Well, I can’t criticize this book too much; I have to keep in mind that it was written for young girls from about 8 to 13. However, I first read this book when I was eight and I have to say I was NOT impressed. (Keep in mind, though, that a year later I was reading Pride and Prejudice and loving it, so I might not be an accurate judge.) It’s a short “chapter book” – like the Scholastic ones meant for “beginning” readers only a little more advanced. I think Scholastic might even put it out; I’m not sure.

A Gathering of Days is written in a diary format, with the main character Catherine telling unconnected vignettes about her life. The book would primarily be called a historical story, but I find it a bit amusing (in a droll sort of way) that it fails even at that. The time period isn’t very accurately represented by the book, and there are some minor but still annoying errors in the historical details throughout.

So what is this book about? I never was quite sure! The basic story as I recall is about a New England schoolgirl who sees mysterious things going on in her town. This storyline is diluted by meandering anecdotes and observations. And nothing more memorable stands out in my mind about what happens in the plot!


Characters

Catherine, the young heroine of this story, is developed rather well through her diary entrees. Unfortunately, she isn’t much different from any other heroine in the “historical diaries” genre, which makes her a colorless, flat, unmemorable character. Just goes to prove that the character development can be the best in the world and still fail if the character itself isn’t unique.

The other character around Catherine – her family, friends, and, um, not enemies, but “unknown people” (ahem!) – are underdeveloped, thanks to the limiting first-person storytelling. How can you get to know a character when he or she is briefly referred to several times and then is never mentioned again? There are a few scenes she records in the diary that reveal a little more about her friends, but these are rare indeed. I couldn’t give the characters any more than a four out of 10.

Plot

Ohh! Kill me quick! :-) Really, it’s not as bad as that, but I’m surprised that the author relies so much on a cheap plot trick to carry the story along. I didn’t have high expectations for the storyline coming into this book; diaries aren’t known for super-strong plots! But A Gathering of Days is exceptionally poor in this area; there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the events that happen in the book. Often they couldn’t even be called events, simply commonplace, everyday conversations or occurrences that shouldn’t even be included.

Another major downfall of the plot is the lack of a continuous flow. Each entry seems to be random, chosen simply so that the author could include another entry. Great reason to keep writing, no? All these haphazard happenings make for a confusing and hard-to-follow story. Sigh.

Writing style

This is another “gag-me” aspect of the book. From the start, the author uses a weak tone, evidently trying to imitate what she imagines would be a young 19th century girl’s style. The overall storytelling is personal but works too hard to be "Olde Englishe." You start to feel that this book would have been much stronger if it had been written in the author's normal voice, toned down of course for younger readers.. It's like watching a movie with an actor that has a fake English accent – you wish he'd just quit and use his everyday voice, no matter how much it would contradict the setting.

Enjoyment

Who WOULD enjoy this book? I know there’s a demographic that A Gathering of Days is geared to, and I would guess it’s basically the “American Girls” group – the eight- to thirteen-year-old girls who like dressing up and enjoy “old-fashioned” things. That age group would probably love A Gathering of Days and not even notice all its countless faults.

I don’t think the book is absolutely worthless, if it was I would have given it just one star. After all, there is some emotion and a good deal of personal reflection. Sadly, the reader can’t relate very much to Catherine and the other characters, and so doesn’t really care what happens.

Message

Is there even a message to the book? I wonder…

Honestly, I found myself asking, “What’s the point? Why did the author bother to write it? Just for entertainment?” (Well, failed to entertain me!) “Just to add another ‘historical diary’ to the shelves of the bookstore?” It’s difficult to locate a clear theme or message or even a clear literary idea in the book. I guess the message would be something like, “Things were different in the old days.”

Overall

Although A Gathering of Days isn’t a horrible book, it simply fails to meet my criteria for a good book. I would suggest that a reader looking into this book would instead check out the “Dear America” diaries, which are just as personal but develop the story and characters much better. The age group of this book might also enjoy reading The Diary of Anne Frank, which is the intense but beautiful true-life story of a young Holocaust girl. And then – if you REALLY have to try A Gathering of Days, get it with low expectations, and then you won’t be disappointed.