Name All the Animals

De: Alison Smith

Narrado por: Alison Smith

Duración: 6 h y 12 m

Resumen del Editor

A luminous, true story, Name All the Animals is an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss.

As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name: Alroy. But on a cool summer morning when Alison was 15, she woke to learn that Roy, 18, was dead. This is Smith's extraordinary account of the impact of that loss, on herself, on her parents, and on a deeply religious community.

At home, Alison and her parents sleepwalk in shifts. Alison hoards food for her lost brother, hides in the back yard fort they built together, and waits for him to return. During the day, she breaks every rule at Our Lady of Mercy School for Girls, where the baffled but loving nuns offer prayer, Shakespeare, and a job running the switchboard. In the end, Alison finds her own way to survive: a startling and taboo first love that helps her discover a world beyond the death of her brother.

Heartbreaking but hopeful, this is about the excitement and anguish of Alison's first love, about her parents' enduring romance, about a community's passion for its faith, and about a beautiful, well-loved boy who dies too young.

©2004 Alison Smith (P)2004 Simon & Schuster, Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The best memoirs accost you, and like a stranger in a late-night diner they tell their stories in a way that makes time stand still and your coffee go cold beside you. Alison Smith's Name All the Animals, a portrait of her family's grief in the wake of her brother's death, does just that." (The New York Times Book Review)
"[Alison Smith's] reading is pitch perfect, giving this painful but redemptive just the right combination of bravery, youth, and gragility. Delicious." (AudioFile)

The poetry of memory

This book is moving and imaginative even in its realness. Alison Smith brings details of memory to life in a way that makes my own memories, feel closer, and since listening to this, I have been appreciating the beauty and poetry of every day moments more. For anyone looking for company in grief, this is a story that reminds of the complex beauty that is life love and death. It is also a very special gift to hear this memoir read by the author.