All Souls: A Story from Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald

Olivia writes:
Every best-selling novel must have some kind of a theme or purpose to it's story. Many factors influence the author and informs the authors purpose. I am currently reading "All Souls: A Story from Southie", a memoir or autobiography written by  Michael Patrick MacDonald. Recently started reading is "All Souls: A Story from Southie" by Michael Patrick MacDonald. Michael Patrick MacDonald includes his personal life experiences in this story. He was born in Boston in 1966. His novel “All Souls: A Story from Southie” is about his childhood experiences. I have only read half way through this novel, so I do not know how the story ends yet. But so far in the story it explains what happened in his family before he was even born. When he was too little to remember events that happened he tells the stories that his mother told him when he got older. I found the beginning of this novel boring to read because it was giving background information on Southie and there was no story, it was more like a list of facts. But the other chapters were extremely enjoyable to read.
               This novel is about Michael Patrick MacDonald’s family and how they grew up living in the projects of Southie under the support of the governments social welfare. It seems like Michael’s mother was the most important person in his life (at least so far in the novel). She married a man named Dave MacDonald who was the father of seven of her children but he was a terrible father. Their mother had to raise her children alone as well as being beaten by Dave or who she calls “Mac”.  Since she was Catholic she was not allowed to divorce Mac. But she thought it was the best thing to do considering that she didn’t need him to support her or their children and he would only hurt her. She finally got away from him but occasionally he would come to her home and beat her and their oldest son. Their oldest son was effected by this beating. He was always a brilliant student and when he was fourteen he was accepted in a very highly educational school when he got a nervous breakdown and was sent to a mental hospital. Their mother was tough though. She became stronger instead of crazy as a result of the beatings. She had muscles and skills, while she still looked stunning after having so many children. She was a very good mother and was always there for her children even when times were tough. When she was eight months pregnant with Seamus, a woman put up a fight with her. Even though the other woman was in perfect shape and was not pregnant Michael’s mother won! If she needed back up she had three of her own personal bodyguards (her three oldest sons). Since his older brothers and his older sister Mary had a reputation for being tough, no one would harm Michael without reason because they knew that if they did, then they would have to deal with his siblings. Which was a good thing since Michael did not want to fight and was not very good at it either.
 He was the seventh child out of eight children. The only child that was not from the same Dave MacDonald was the youngest child, Seamus, who Michael was over protective of when he was a baby because Seamus was Michael’s only younger brother. Even when his mother was pregnant with Seamus Michael was worried something might happen to either her or the baby. For example, on Saint Patrick’s Day his mother was playing her guitar in a pub so he was waiting for her outside with his cousin. There was a trouble maker in the pub and the manager called the cops. When the cops got there, they started beating everyone in the pub up even though the cops were only called to get one guy out of there. When Michael, who was only five or six at the time, saw this he was extremely worried that his mother might die because they were killing  innocent people in there. But she came home and only had a headache, so both her as well as the baby were fine.
               Michael Patrick MacDonald, in my opinion, did a great job retelling his childhood. He includes so much information and details so that it is easy for the reader to understand what is happening. He tells the story from a child’s prospective so that the reader imagines a child telling the story. So far this novel has been a great story to read. I can’t wait to finish reading it!