Search - Name All the Animals : A Memoir

This was really good- for a memoir, it read just like a novel. Whereas many memoirs have an inherent sense of distance in relaying the events and experiences of their past, this one had a real sense of immediacy. There were very few sentences that relayed anything of the future - no real hints as to how it all "turned out." She is a very talented writer and I would read just about anything else that she wrote. I was just impressed by the whole book. It was very emotional, and just... quite excellent.

Very sad but excellent.

Name all the animals is the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and a young woman stuggling to define herself in the wake of this loss. The story's central character, Allsion, attempts to deal with her grief, while trying to help the rest o her family as well.

A touching portrait of grief and adolescence. Compounded are intricate layerings of a struggle with faith and a stirring of attraction that is forbidden by that same faith.

I enjoyed it all the more because I live within miles of the author's childhood home. The landmarks are familiar to me - I found myself curious about how it reads to others who don't know it.

A heartbreaking memoir, but a very well written one.