Name All the Animals
A Memoir

Alison Smith examines the fallout in the lives of her and her parents following the sudden death of her adored older brother Roy when she was 15. A sweet and sad book, although not without its funny moments (most involving the feisty nuns in charge of her Catholic girls' high school). Anyone from a......more

In 1984, a small, happy family lives in Rochester, New York: a resolute, devout mother; a dreamy, spiritual father; a quiet, competent boy; a watchful, bookish girl. But they’re on the brink of disaster, and, almost immediately, it happens: one day in late July the boy, eighteen, dies in a fiery auto......more

Alison Smith has written a memoir from an important but rarely talked about point of view. When someone dies young, our society tends to empathize with the parents, but the sibling role is just as significant. Alison bravely tells the story of her brother Roy's tragic death and the repercussions tha......more

There's something to be said for matching form and content: Alison Smith's memoir puts the reader in the slow, foggy haze she describes in the months and years following her brother's death. That being said, it doesn't make for a super-engaging read. The form/content match holds up when the narrativ......more

Tvekar lite kring om den här hör hemma under kategorin nonfiction eller inte. Alison Smith skriver förvisso om sin familj och sin uppväxt och om hur familjen stannar upp efter att hennes tre år äldre bror omkommer i en bilolycka när Alison är femton – men formatet känns mera som en roman än som en s......more