Name All The Animals (continued once more)

Having finished Name All The Animals, by Alison Smith, I've found that a lot of the characters in the book were likable. They all seemed to try to do the best thing for the people around them. Even though some of the family members seemed slightly harsh, it's hard to dislike people when you know they've gone through something as difficult as losing a son/brother. My favorite characters were Sister Aggie, Roy and Mary Elizabeth. Roy and Sister Aggie both seemed like kind, goodhearted, funny people. They both had a sense of humor and were much more understanding than Alison's parents or the other nuns. They aren't very similar, but I liked their characters for similar reasons. -Mary Elizabeth was Alison's neighbor and the sister she never had. After Roy died, she saved the newspaper article when Alison asked her to. Although she let Alison mope around in the basement for a little while, she would eventually force her to come outside, climb trees and various sorts of things to get the grief off her mind. I like that she (even though she was going through her own "teenage drama,") she continued to be there for Alison and she treated her the same as she had before Roy's death.

A character who I really don't like is Alison's mother. She is rude. I think that even though she tried her hardest to cope with her grief as well as her family's, she couldn't do it all on her own and it seemed like she refused to ask for help. I think her constant nagging at Alison to feel better and go through the stages of grief just made things harder for her. 

Name All The Animals (part two)

I think one of the reasons that the characters in Name All The Animals are so realistic is because Alison Smith is able to make a point of each character's flaws without "over-writing" them. After the death of Roy, she writes about how their reactions, and the decisions that ensue aren't always positive or healthy for anyone, but she doesn't write it in a vengeful way. Alison (as a character) doesn't judge or hold these flaws against the other characters; she just writes and views things in an honest, clear way. I think that makes the story more compelling, because you can see the characters in a different light than if the narrator was annoying and didn't like those around her (like The Bell Jar). She also makes all of the characters interesting; none of them are consistently the same throughout the novel and they often make surprising choices, which makes the story more unpredictable. The reader (or at least I) don't lose interest in any of the characters because there is always so much going on in their lives and they're always going through something. The way Alison Smith writes the people in her life makes Name All The Animals much more interesting than if she acted like the stereotypical girl of her age.

Name All The Animals

After completing the incredibly depressing (yet well-written) The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, we asked our creative writing teacher for something a bit happier. He responded by giving us Name All The Animals, a memoir by Alison Smith which starts off with the death of her older brother. Although not exactly any happier than The Bell Jar, because the character isn't clinically depressed, the story has lighter moments and the main character is more likable. I personally like the book, although not as much as I liked The Bell Jar. I was immediately interested in it because of the title, and the book has remained equally interesting. I like that with the death of her brother the family's opinion on religion changes; Alison's parents turn to religion, but she believes God has walked out of her life and she is unable to reconnect with her faith. I'm not thrilled with the book so far, but I at least like that it's interesting and I hope the book becomes slightly less depressing.

Sylvia Plath Poetry.

The Beast: Like all of her other poetry, this doesn't make any sense. The poem jumps around in each stanza. However, unlike the others, I didn't necessarily dislike this poem. Some of the lines were slightly amusing; "I've married a cupboard of rubbish," and "The sun sat in his armpit." Lines like these, which I don't think are meant to be funny, made me laugh anyways and lightened the mood of the poem (which was quite depressing, like everything else she's written). This poem, unlike others, manages to stay on one topic (for the most part), which made it slightly more enjoyable.

Female Author: I chose this poem because of the name. I ended up liking it more than any of the others I've read by her. It seems most normal and it represented an actual idea, and the metaphors and similes and all those parts of speech related to the poem, instead of going off into some other abstract meaning which I didn't understand.

I Am Vertical: This poem is quite depressing. The title was intriguing, but the first line immediately depressed me; "I am vertical, but I wish I was horizontal." She goes on to talk about how she wants to be dead and buried in a cemetery. I know most of her poetry is sad, but this is the most depressing one I've read so far. Because it talked about death in the first line, it set a horribly upsetting mood for the entire poem, opposed to just being vaguely dark like some of her others.

Sheep in Fog: Like the others, I came across this poem because of the name. Aside from that, I didn't really like anything about it. It talked literally about sheep in fog (and the meaning behind it was one I didn't grasp). I couldn't connect to the images she produced and even though it sounded rather nice, I didn't react to it in any particular way. It wasn't as depressing though, which was nice.

Metaphors: I like this poem a lot. Even though it didn't make any sense, for some reason, I still liked it. I think because the title was "Metaphors" and you have that idea of a metaphorical poem in mind, the fact that it literally doesn't make any sense is okay, and it just works.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

About a week ago, we began to read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath for my creative writing class. I'd already read it over Christmas break, but I'm finding that, unlike other books, I enjoy reading it again. I like the style of writing that Plath uses; the way she describes things are interesting and not common. I would definitely recommend this book. However, it wouldn't exactly be the best book for someone going through a bad time-it really is depressing. Even when life seems to be going well for her, things always end up taking a turn for the worse and she ends up just as miserable as she was before. If you're willing to read it despite this, the book is very good. It's well-written and interesting, and because it's based off her life, it's unique and unlike any other story I've read. Overall, I really enjoyed the book the first time I read it, and I'm enjoying it again.

Unsettling America Poems

Mnemonic-Li-Young Lee

I liked this poem most out of all of the ones we looked at today. I'd found it before we read it in class, because we read another poem on the page before it. Anyways, I liked how the poem started; "I was tired. So I lay down. My lids grew heavy. So I slept. Slender memory, stay with me." I liked that it wasn't full of illusion and metaphors, that it was sort of simple and gave you an introduction to the poem that wasn't full of imagery and description. It was different from the other poems in that way, which set it apart and made it more memorable. I also liked the repetition in the poem, because it wasn't the exact same thing. Well it was, but the sentences were worded differently; "I was cold once. So my father took off his blue sweater." opposed to "Once, I was cold. So my father took off his blue sweater."
I liked the way the poem is written, and I like it a lot more than the other Li-Young Lee poems that we've read so far. Something about it made it easy to relate to, even though it doesn't really apply to my life at all.

Betsey Brown

1. I can relate to a lot of the scenes in the book, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. However, one of the ones that stuck with me the most was when Betsey and her siblings concocted a plan to send Bernice away. I've never done something that mean, but I've definitely at least tried to think of a way to get people I didn't like out of my house.
2. I would want to spend time with Greer, because I think out of all of the adults, he's the only one that actually provides the family with the things he feels they should have.
3. Whenever people talk about how Betsey lives in the "rich colored neighborhood," I'm confused. This isn't exactly what bothered me, but I am a little confused because Jane talks as if they're poor, but it's been said several times that they're not.
4. I think Shange plays with grammar and sentence structure the way she does because she wants to reflect the tone of the time period; also, it gives the book a more unique feel than it would've had otherwise.
5. I think that while Betsey will continue to struggle, she'll end up okay, because it's a coming-of-age story and that's generally what happens in these kinds of stories.