Name All the Animals Audiobook By Alison Smith cover art

Name All the Animals

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Name All the Animals

By: Alison Smith
Narrated by: Alison Smith
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.07

Buy for $15.07

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

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.
Authors Grief & Loss Women
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"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)

What listeners say about Name All the Animals

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!