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.