The Impossible Knife of Memory

by Laurie Halse Anderson

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own. Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

• ISBN10: 0147510724
• ISBN13: 9780147510723
• Publish Date: 2 June 2015 (first published 2 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780147510723

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

I read this book in two sittings, about four hours total. I was completely wrapped up in it. This isn't the first Anderson novel I've read, so I knew that I would most likely enjoy the book, but I didn't anticipate how much so.
Hayley's story is so captivating - she works so hard to just survive today, that it breaks your heart over and over. Like all of Anderson's books, there's a huge message wrapped up in the story about caring for vets and their families that are dealing with PTSD, and other subsequent conditions.
Highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys Anderson or YA.

[Bianca]

My earbuds were in, but I wasn’t playing music. I needed to hear the world, but didn’t want the world to know I was listening.

— I don't think is a bad book. I just couldn't connect with the story and the characters.

[nightingalereads]

2 1/2 stars. This book was okay, but I never felt invested in any of the characters. Maybe just not for me?

[laughingrachel]

Another Anderson book that deals with the heavy issues that many teens have to deal with. I won't comment too much on the realism of the PTSD displayed because I don't have anyone I'm close with who struggles with it, but I found it emotionally gripping and had me feeling lots of sympathy for our teenage heroine.

It was hard to warm up to Hayley at the beginning. She is a typical confused and angry teen and the way she thinks of the people at her school can be harsh and off-putting but honestly, for me, it was because she reminded me a little to much of my own thought process when I was that age and referred to my classmates 'sheeple.' It's embarrassing to think about now, but I think a good chunk of teens go through that phase.

Overall, though, I like Hayley's voice and the way she thinks, but I just couldn't get swept up in the story. Part of that is I really did not like Finn at all. He's just so persistent. Annoyingly so. And at first Hayley is annoyed as well, but then all of the sudden she's just not. For no reason I could discern a romance kicks off. It just felt very forced to me and I kept having to put the book down because I was annoyed at Finn and annoyed at Hayley about Finn.

This book was good and emotionally gripping, but I just wasn't as into it as I usually get into Laurie Halse Anderson's books.

[lizarodz]

Review soon

[girlinthepages]

I haven’t had a chance to pick up a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson since high school, so I was thrilled to come across this in the new release section of my local library. I was equally thrilled to find that Anderson’s writing remains impactful, nuanced, and just as captivating as when I was a younger teen.

Anderson explores the consequences of PTSD derived from war through the viewpoint of the daughter of a veteran, Hayley Kincain. Hayley is a perfect example of a child who has been “parentified,” assuming the adult responsibility in a father-daughter relationship and thus causing her own personality and growing-up to suffer. Anderson has no trouble finding a strong voice in Hayley, with all of the cynicism, paranoia, and apathy that most teenagers, especially in dysfunctional home situations, exhibit. As Hayley’s home situation worsens as her father delves deeper into depression and substance abuse, Anderson manages to also emphasize the dysfunction that runs through even the peripheral character’s home lives, from Gracie’s parent’s infidelity and custody battles to Finn’s sister’s substance abuse. The novel sends the message that (almost) every family is battling their own demons, and that while some children are dragged down by their family’s dysfunction, others are able to rise above it, and Hayley is an example of a teenager treading the fine balance between the two.

Anderson also creates a wonderfully realistic portrayal of a teenage romance in her novel. A little awkward and very cute, Finnegan Ramos is one of the most sincere and genuine guys I’ve ever read in a YA novel. His dynamic with Hayley isn’t perfect, they don’t magically have everything in common and often times there’s more awkward tension than chemistry. But the development of their relationship is so realistic that it’s hard to finish reading the book and realizing he’s not that funny guy spearheading your school newspaper. His dialogue was always witty and he never misses a beat in conversation. My personal favorite exchange between the couple:

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You missed the bus,” he said.

“I’m sick.”

“Need chicken soup?”

“Actually it’s my period,” I lied. “Killer cramps.”

“Chocolate and a heating pad?”

“How do you know that?”

“I have an older sister and my mom is a kick-ass feminist,” he said. “I’m probably the only guy in the school who can buy tampons without having a seizure. Look at that, I can even say the word. ‘Tampon, tampon, tampon.’ If you say it enough, it stops sounding like a word, know what I mean?” (p63)

I appreciate Anderson’s willingness to tackle tough topics in her YA novels, and while The Impossible Knife of Memory handles multiple forms of heavy subject matter, she is able to interject it with humor, affection, and the possibility that one can escape a dysfunctional home life and still form new and healthy relationships. Though the novel revolves mainly around Hayley’s family’s struggles of war, PTSD, the lack of support for veterans, and single parenting, Anderson acknowledges that no matter how mild or severe a family’s problems are, they can leave a scar on the children to carry with them, especially through adolescence:

“The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don’t need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and bam! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever…And you can’t do a damn thing about it.” (p260)

The Impossible Knife of Memory is a captivating, and at times tragic, read but it will resonate with readers that there are choices and attitudes that can be made and taken in dealing with family problems, and not all of them lead to misery. While the characters are a product of their environment, the focus is on their agency to change their lives through their choices and new relationships, an agency that is of crucial importance to young adult readers who are too old to be ignorant to their family’s secrets and dysfunctions. While there were instances in the book that weren’t my favorite (the at times over-exaggerated dramatic and fickle behavior of teenagers, the way texting is portrayed, Hayley’s continual excuses for her father and demonization of Trish, etc) the book delivers a broader message of family systems, childhood trauma, and teenage agency that is beneficial for all readers, no matter what their family situation.

See more of my reviews at The Girl in the Pages

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/01/the-impossible-knife-of-memory-by.html#more
The Impossible Knife Of Memory depicts the very real and debilitating post traumatic stress disorder. Hayley's father Andy suffers each day as a result of four tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq, numbing the constant pain with alcohol and reliving each vivid detail over and over again. On the surface, it reads as a contemporary young adult novel dealing with what is seen as a mental illness, but watching the storyline unfold is confronting, heartbreaking and will leave you on edge. Through years of seeing the war through her father's eyes, Hayley isn't a well adjusted girl as much as she cares to believe. At home, she walks a fine line between coddling her father and doing what she can to make both their lives easier. Andy won't seek intervention, leaving Hayley to shoulder far more responsibility than any teen girl should need to endure.

I've never encountered a returned soldier, nor personally know one. I can't imagine any amount of training could prepare anyone for the atrocities of war and sadly it doesn't seem as though PTSD is openly discussed. Seeing Andy's illness from his teen daughter's point of view allows the reader to experience that fine line between sink and swim, and it's confronting to say the least. I spent the majority of the book waiting for what seemed to be the inevitable, I was emotionally spent. Laurie Halse Anderson has created far more than a contemporary teen novel, it's an emotionally charged psychological contemporary novel that will stay with you long after the final page.