Laurie Halse Anderson

"Hayley Kincaid and her father move back to their hometown to try a 'normal' life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives"--

The Impossible Knife of Memory

A searing look at the effects of post traumatic stress on soldiers and their families, seen through the eyes of teenage Hayley. Hayley is struggling to forget the past. But some memories run too deep, and soon the cracks start to show. Stunning, hard-hitting fiction from an award-winning writer.

Melissa Palmer

Book #15 Read in 2015
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)

This was a great read by one of my favorite authors. Hayley is a senior in high school and has returned to public school after being homeschooled by her father for years while they were on the road with his working as a trucker. Hayley's father suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Hayley fears that he will harm himself. She ends up being more of the parent than child in the household. This book was a powerful read that immediately sucked me in; I read it in one day. I highly recommend it for both high school students and adults. Great read!

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Ivy X

I received this book for free from Goodreads first reads. 
I would give this a 2.5 if I could. 
I hated the first 1/2 of the book. It was easier to continue with the story as the plot picked up allowing me not to focus on the main character but rather on the story. I really did not like the protagonist of this story. Hayley is just always angry with everyone and she always seems to go against the rules of a given task. She doesn't listen. Rather than appearing as a strong and stubborn character, it just gives her this "I'm better than you" vibe. I hated how she categorized everyone into two categories: (1) freaks (2) zombies. She acts like everyone is a brainless figure and just part of a background. Apparently only she is the one who isn't so brainless and actually does things and thinks about things. I hated how she acted like she was better than everyone else because she viewed their choices in life as stupid. I hated how she acted like she was the only one who had a life and that everyone around her (in school, on the bus, etc) are all just drones. Her best friend Gracie is described as neither a freak nor a zombie. WOW BIG SURPRISE. WHAT A SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP. TWO LIVING PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT ZOMBIES OR FREAKS ARE BEST FRIENDS. WOOOOOWWW. Or maybe...GRACIE IS JUST HUMAN WHO MADE AN EFFORT TO GET TO KNOW YOU AND YOU LIKED HER AS A FRIEND AS WELL AND SUDDENLY YOU KNOW HER BETTER AND REALIZE SHE IS MORE THAN JUST A FREAK OR A ZOMBIE. 

I couldn't understand how Hayley could be so angry all the time. People can be angry but they also have their quiet moments and their happy moments. Hayley had none of that. It was just a continuous feeling of anger. She was just angry and always making accusations. She never really tried to think about things from another person's point of view. She was a very egocentric character who had to deal with very troublesome family problems because her father had PTSD. 

Also...the author must not know how teenagers text one another. Reading their "text messages" was like deciphering alien code. If any of my friends texted like "y dos he wnt yr nmber" and "finz a swimer buterfly u shuld c him nakd" and "swm teemsutes betr thn nakd," I would make an effort to call them instead of text them. 

Also, on page 150, she was talking about the people in her high school who talk about being sexually active. It's their choice and I'm sure they are very responsible as well. As zombie-like as she thinks everyone is, people have brains and people have lives. People have thoughts. They think just as much as you do. Maybe differently but they still think. She was literally like, "Oh, I know the statistics and the people in my school are all stupid so they wouldn't use birth control...how is everyone not getting pregnant?" and then saying that because they weren't getting pregnant, they were probably lying about having sex. WHAT? WHAT LOGIC? WHAT? People are really not dumb to be like, "Yes, let me throw my future away for a high school romance." (Some people are but evidently no one in her school is since they are all having sex and not getting pregnant). The fact that she acts as though she's better than them because her choices are different from their choices and because she isn't sexually active is a stupid idea and awfully judgmental. To be honest, I'm not surprised she would be like that. She has shown a consistent prejudice toward everyone because they are zombies and freaks and they are different from her and her friends. She has also displayed ideas of internal misogyny that another girl's choice is stupid because it isn't what she would have done.

The story did pick up as it went. But it's hard for me to really like this book because of how unlikable her character is. The romance was cute at times but I didn't feel like they were always that compatible. The characters weren't to die for. Her relationship with Finn is cute at times. It is realistic at times. Her friendship with Gracie was cute and realistic at times. But at the same time, I didn't feel like any of them were compatible with each other. These characters were uncomfortably mushed together. Gracie and her boyfriend Topher were such an awkward couple to read about. Finn and Hayley felt so on and off and their relationship was a huge moodswing. No one made an effort to solve anything when one got upset. WHERE WAS THE COMMUNICATION? And then you have characters like Gracie telling Hayley how perfect they are together. I dont get it??? Also Hayley and Gracie are pretty awkward to read about too. As friends, they should be listening to one another's problems and then comforting one another. Instead, they seem to be talking over each other...both stuck in their own world of problems without making an effort to help one another. Also, the plot was interesting when it started focusing more on family issues and PTSD/depression. But I have trouble falling for a book when I hate the narrator so much.

The Impossible Knife of Memory

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