Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing...
Review: As others have already said, this book truly is a breath of fresh air. Smith's family is one that loves one another--period. They are not perfect, nor do they pretend to be (unless accounting for Alison's mother Vonnie, the Kremlin, who simply made all things that she didn't approve of disappear).
You might need to read with a box of tissues near by, not merely for the sadness of Ms. Smith's account (which is extremely sad) but for the flood of memories and "what if's" that her tale of Alroy, her and her brother, will necessarily bring to mind, of forts and secret hideouts and that exact moment of childhood when you felt your older sibling slip away.
Do not expect a perfect ending or a happy denouement. As for anyone who has lost a loved one, the grieving doesn't end. It just changes, dulls as those left behind must continue on wihout them. This is a beautiful tale of a sister's love for a brother, only fully discovered after he is gone, though never truly gone from the family's hearts and lives. As in whom Alison names the Before people, those who knew her brother before and had not yet found out he had died, in them her brother was still very much alive. However, like her epigraph reminds us "Not everything has a name," especially to a confused, lonely girl who only wants her brother back.
Unlike most books about grieving families, this offers no solutions, no reasons. The Smiths are very religious people, and even they in time of crisis do not have any sort of answer. Name All the Animals explores faith, both in the Catholic church and in real life in a way that is brutal and honest and holy all at the same time. It is a noble attempt for Smith who will surely be publishing new material for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Like Adam in the Garden of Eden
Review: Alison Smith has written a remarkable memoir in her first novel "Name All the Animals". Alison's father, to keep them safe, used to bless all the parts of Roy and Al every morning with a statue of St Jude. "Name All the Animals" is like Adam in the Garden of Eden-you have to be named, like all the animals were named- a way to keep track of. She tells us in a 3 year snippet the time in the family life when they lost their beloved brother and son, Roy. Her parents withdraw into themselves, no one talks about the death but they all act out their grief in symbolic gestures.Alison and her brother Roy lived in Rochester, New York. Upstate, as it is usually described. They had a wonderful life. Her mom and father worked hard and had the dream cottage- 3 bedroom, small cape. Roy was older and was not at all happy with Alison's appearance, but in time he grew to love her and they became best friends.
In May of Roy's senior year, he was driving to work one weekend morning and his car was hit and burst into flames. He died instantly. The family spends the next 3 years grieving. All of them grieve in separate but similar ways. Alison and her parents take turns at night walking the house- her mother goes first, then when her footsteps stop, dad goes and finally Alison. They walk the house, the yard, with their thoughts and their memories of Roy. Alison and Roy were so close as children that their mom called both of them Alroy. Alison did not grow up as a separate person, but as one of two- linked together. Alison attends a private, girl's Catholic school and part of the recovery seen by the nuns is to let Alison get away with anything and everything. No one talk about Roy- Alison is left alone. She falls into a relationship with Terry- this is the first for both of them and their young love is new and fresh. However, many suspect and when they are found together in a nun's bed, no less- nothing much happens. Alison must see the school therapist, but for only one or two sessions. Terry does not really understand Al's issues with grief and it is only when Al brings her friend Terry to Roy's fort, and she discovers uneaten food that she begins to understand Alison's anorexia. She forces Alison to eat, but we never do understand how Alison overcomes her anorexia, or whether her parents realize what has happened to their young daughter. We know she graduates and goes off to find her life. We don't know if she decides she loves women or if the family ever comes to terms with
Roy's death. The telling of the story is real and free and may be what Alison Smith needs to move on with her life. This is not just a sad story; we understand grief and faith, love, life and survival in more human terms... This is a story told with elegance and grace- it is must read for everyone- everyone who has suffered a loss and haven't we all? prisrob
Rating: 
Summary: Girlhood interrupted
Review: Alison Smith not lost her only brother to a car accident at age 15, she also lost the luxury of working through the typical adolescent struggles on her own time, with her parents' full attention. Denial and a stiff-upper-lip attitude are the strategies her parents choose to get through the long grieving period -- which happens to coincide with her own first steps toward adulthood.
Smith gets her period the day before her brother dies. She meets her first love a few months later, goes to her first boy-girl drinking party, grows apart from her prim-and-proper best friend and tries to walk a narrow line between fitting in at school and letting people know what (and whom) she really cares about.
Her parents, who hold things together with devout religious observance, extreme hiking and clucking nervously (but ineffectually) over their only remaining child, fail to notice (or are afraid to mention) her anorexia, even when she drops to 85 pounds. They have only the haziest, uneasy grasp of the tumultuous romantic relationship she's involved in and don't even mention it when their daughter fails to comb her hair for days and leaves for school with her sweater inside out. Smith's parents work so hard just to remain functional after such an unexpected loss that the family becomes dysfunctional -- failing to protect her even as they indulge in overprotective behavior.
She's a subtle enough writer to portray her ambivalence about some of her convent-school friends -- the theatrical Susanna, who wears opera gloves to school (because they're not covered by the uniform code)is seen as fun to watch but insensitive when she presses Smith to use a slumber-party Ouija board to contact her late brother.
The nuns who run the girls' school also are far from stock characters. As a graduate of another convent school (operated by a different religious order), I was surprised and proud to see someone describing how much the best of these women offered their students -- shrewd, kind, intuitive and in their own way, unconventional, the nuns in this book emerge as individuals, not Sister Stereotype.
Smith's writing is deceptively simple, not calling attention to itself, except in half-buried metaphors -- for instance, an account of the game of "ghost baseball" she and her doomed brother played ends with him stepping off from third base, calling "Ghost man heading home."
Like another reviewer here, I missed knowing more about Smith's life after the main part of the memoir, which ends in the summer after her junior year in high school. I wanted to know how she had become a writer, how she had integrated the loss of the brother into her adult life (does she tell people about him now, outside the context of this book?) and how she came to determine her adult sexual orientation (since her affair with another girl -- handled with extreme delicacy -- is a major part of the book.
Perhaps she is saving those themes for another memoir. I hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant Story ....
Review: Alison Smith's memoir, Name All the Animals, is wonderful. It is not often that a writer can depict so much beauty through their words that you feel as if you are experiencing what they are going through. Smith is able to use the subject of her life at a particularly painful time and transport the reader through her imagery to feel her and her parents pain, confusion, struggle and resolution as a result of her brother's death. The memoir begins with the fifteen year old Smith, discovering her 18 year old brother Roy has just died in a car accident. Everything is conveyed in such a clear, honest sense that you can easily imagine yourself in the families place, walking around on automatic just trying to grasp the enormity of the situation. Every member of the family deals with Roy's death in a different way, but all are clearly devastated. In this sense, the novel recounts without judgement how her parents focused on dealing with their son's death and as a result went to some extreme measures to protect her from the entire story and at the same time ignored alot of her signals for help. This in no way diminishes her admiration or devotion to her parents and her descriptons of their childhoods and courtship is particularly touching. On top of everything is the additional burden of going through adolescence during this traumatic time and we read about the measures Alison takes to keep Roy's memory alive. Much of the poignancy in this novel centers on Smith's relationships in highschool with her first crush, friends and the nuns at the Catholic School. As she approaches the end of her teenage years, her adulthood is marked with the acceptance of her brother's death and her decision to live and move on with her life. It is just a wonderfully written and touching story and I hope to see more work by Alison Smith.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully Written and Honest Memoir
Review: Alison Smith's Name All the Animals is a beautifully written and honest memoir. Smith was about 15 years old when her 18-year old brother was killed in a terrible car accident, leaving Smith as her parent's only child. Smith recounts the three years following her brother Roy's death with heartbreaking honesty. Smith had the double difficulty of trying to cope with her brother's death and her own identity at the same time. The nuns in the Catholic high school tried their best to understand her, but in some ways, Smith fell through the cracks--parents assuming the nuns were taking care of her, and vice versa. After Roy died, Smith's life moved forward, at sometimes an alarming rate. Her life was difficult and joyous--and her memoir communicates that beautifully. Smith is an excellent writer and this is an excellent memoir.
Rating:
Summary: An exquisite memoir about loss and love
Review: Alison Smith's unflinching memoir about the violent, accidental death of her brother is almost like looking into her soul. She writes with such candor about her experience, the reader actually feels her pain and confusion. She handles her parents' inability to help her deal with her brother's death with great compassion by detailing how each of them is so profoundly affected by a loss that they cannot understand, accept or find spiritual comfort for. Alison's growth through adolescence is masterfully represented, as is her very tastefully written realization of her sexual orientation. Alison's confusion at the loss of her brother, brush with an eating disorder, and guilt at being the one left behind are written without the least bit of self-pity, which makes her story even more moving. As other readers have remarked, I would really like to know more about how Alison fared after her graduation from high school [the informational portion of the novel ends at this stage in her life]. Very clearly, she has found some sort of peace with her brother's death and for our benefit, has been able to write a very powerful memoir of the struggles she encountered dealing with grief, loss, her spirituality, and "coming of age". This is a great "book club book", as there are many topics open for discussion. A wonderful novel which you will read and most importantly, remember, long after you have turned the last page!
Rating:
Summary: Alison Simth--Name All The Animals
Review: An insightful,captivating "can't put down" read.The story of grief and it's effect on a modern day Catholic family told through the eyes of a 15-17 year old girl struggling with the loss of her beloved brother and her own coming of age.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding - could not put it down
Review: As a childhood friend of the author and classmate in high school, I ran right out to buy her book because I thought it would be interesting to read about the author's childhood and events surrounding her brother's death as I remember it well. Well, not only was it interesting it was OUTSTANDING. I could not put this book down and read it in one day. Even if I had not known the author I would have have to say it was one of the best books I have read in a long time. Anyone who has grown up Catholic, lost a loved one or has children or even a family for that matter will not be able to put his book down without taking time to reflect on relationships, love and spirituality in their lives. It is a book that makes you think and that asks some big questions but leaves you to come up with answers. I would highly reccommend this for book club discussions.
My only regret about readng this book is that it really leaves you wondering - How is the author doing today? Did she get help? How did her life turn out?
I hope that we will have more to read in the future from Alison.
Also - as an aside to a previous reviewer who also attended Mercy High School - I though it was in fact a VERY accurate portrayal of Mercy and the nuns did most certainly make us do push-ups and sit-ups there if we got in trouble- I did them!
Rating: 
Summary: LIFE RUINED BY A TRAGEDY
Review: Don't know where the author got the title of this book as it has nothing to do with the content. An animal is a very minor part. This memoir is primarily about a young girl up to college years and you discover: 1) she is close to her brother, 2) she is deeply, deeply Catholic and her family's life revolves around that fact, and 3) she is a budding lesbian. Her brother is killed in an accident at a young age and she is so devistated that it ruins her life and she is unable to overcome the shock all during the book. That burden becomes tedious at times. She has many friends and teachers that give her special consideration and attention, but it does not help her at all. The interaction of all people in this story is interesting, but it was a little too much for me.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Ethereal, sad, haunting - I could not put this book down, and now I can't shake its mood or its effect. Without any self pity, Alison Smith bravely brings us into her world after the sudden, accidental death of her beloved brother. The images and feelings of this book are reminiscent of those in Kundera's brilliant The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Woven and textured into Smith's book is her high school love story. Love, loss, grief, and separation - this book has it all, and it's all quite moving and devastating at the same time.
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