The Impossible Knife of Memory

by Laurie Halse Anderson

[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.