Name All the Animals Response #3

1. I recently finished the novel, Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. I felt the whole book was pretty easy to read, since it certainly kept my attention. Something about reading this woman's life story kept me hooked as I remembered that all of these terrible things really happened to her. I am all for Gay Rights, and when Alison's mother told her that lesbians will burn in hell, I was shocked. I really thought the character of her mother was much more open minded with her daughter, especially after losing one of her kids already. I also wasn't expecting Alison to get so involved with Terri, so that was a very unexpected part of the book.
I do wish that in the epilogue that Alison Smith told us more about her conversation with Terri on the phone after all of those years. I wondered if Terri was mad about the book, since it got so personal about both of them. The ending was hard to read, since it slowed down a LOT, and it ended so suddenly without really wrapping it up. I was left with questions like, do her parents know she's a lesbian? Did she ever see Terri again? I was also confused about her putting food out for Roy. I hope she realized later that it was just a dog eating it, not the ghost of her brother. Reading a story set in my hometown was strange, too. Not bad, just strange, since when I read books I usually can't relate to places, or picture them so clearly in my mind. I enjoyed reading this book, but I do wish we were warned about some later themes in the novel.

2. I really enjoyed the character of Alison's father. He was not comical relief, or even a big character. He was just a dad, doing things for his daughter that used to be so normal for him before Roy passed away, like teaching Alison to drive, and doing his morning blessings. After Roy died, Alison lost her faith in God, so she put her foot down about father's morning blessings. That really hurt her father, since it was the only normality he still  had in his life. But he kept quiet, letting his daughter grow and try new things. I personally think he knew she was a lesbian, since he never tried to push boys onto her like her mother did.
The scenes where her father takes her driving make me tense. I can see them in the car, quiet except for her father talking about sights in Rochester, and maybe his memories there. After Roy's death, he was clearly too scared to actually let her, or see her drive. I couldn't imagine his feelings if he saw his daughter driving away, like Roy did the morning of the car accident. Her father is the silent supporter, letting Alison grow and do what she needs to do. He's like the backbone of the family, especially for mother. I don't think either Alison or her mother could have made it without him.

Name All the Animals Response #2

The author, Alison Smith, makes the characters real by using people she actually knew in her life, since this is a memoir. The character, Sister Agnes James, is my favorite so far. She is so detailed, with her spunky attitude and the way her appearance is explained. I absolutely love the line "Her fine hair floated in a wild nest of curls." Little lines like that make the characters more realistic to me, easy to imagine in my mind. The things that Sister Agnes says, about the infirmary being a jailhouse, or nicknaming the switchboard girls, make her all the more an interesting character. In Italy, I met a bunch of elderly nuns since we stayed in a convent that they rented out as a hotel. Sister Agnes is exactly like them, so I can really relate to Al's feelings when she is around her. Except, Al can understand Sister Agnes, the nuns in Italy only spoke Italian. Alison Smith is doing an amazing job with her characters; they are all very deep, with lots of emotional layers that we discover very slowly.

With the characters of mother and father, you are really only introduced to this depressed side of the adults. As the story goes on, and the track team comes to the house to visit (Roy ran on the track team at McQuaid) you start to see them smiling, and acting like they did before Roy passed away in the car accident. Al's parents were only laughing and smiling when the track team came by, since they were reminded of their son. You can see how they used to be happy-go-lucky, and so supportive of their son and Al. That took a long time to discover, their happier attitudes during happier times. 

The way that her characters are developed make the book much more interesting, since if they were very shallow, the story wouldn't be interesting. It is a slow story mostly about emotions, and how the characters get over the death of a loved one. If the characters weren't explored deeply, then it would be EXTREMELY boring, with bland conversations about, "oh, yeah, my brother died." No scenes where girls ask Al to talk to talk to Roy with the Ouija Board, and she thinks to herself how she actually does want to see if she can contact Roy. Even those scenes are interesting, because they explore the thoughts of the characters.

Name All the Animals by Alison Smith

I am about 110 pages into Name All the Animals by Alison Smith, and so far I'm really enjoying it. Reading a book that takes place here is really cool, since I've never read anything with a setting of Rochester. Hearing names of streets and schools that I know makes me interested, and it's easier to imagine what's going on.
The character Alison is just like any other girl. She's very easy to relate to, since her feelings are so well written and explained. When Roy died, it was a little frustrating because they wouldn't come right out and say he died. It was obvious, but they wouldn't say it. You had to figure it out through their feelings and actions.
I'm excited to continue reading this novel, and to see what happens to Alison.