meubanks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
greylandreviews's review against another edition
5.0
This book was everything I expected from such amazing author as Laurie Halse Anderson and more. None of her books can be compared to any of the contemporary YA fiction there is now. The things I loved about this book most is characters. She gives such a life to them all even if they play a small role. Favorite character(s) are Hayley (a.k.a Miss.Blue) and Finn (a.k.a Finnegan Braveheart Ramos). Hayley isn't your typical teen. From ages 13-17 she was on a semi with her dad driving around the U.S. until he decided to settle and then she found or more Finn found her. I feel like, when anything goes good in her life it gets screwed up really badly and she always gets hurt My favorite quote from this book is Say the alphabet. Count in Spanish. Picture a mountain, the top of a mountain, the top of a mountain in the summer. Keep breathing . No surprise here but I give this book 5 deserving stars and A spot in my fav-books-of-2014 shelf. Yeah it's that good.
ac223's review against another edition
3.0
This review can also be found at http://thepaperbackaddict.blogspot.com/
When the old soldier's story was finished, Dad asked, "You know how Veterans Day started?"
"The armistice, the end of World War One, " Fin answered. "At eleven o'clock in the morning of November 11, 1918, all the troops on both sides stopped fighting. That's the day we honor vets."
"Here's what you don't know, " Dad said. "By five o'clock that morning, the officers had all gotten the message that the war would end that day. But lots of them ordered their men to keep fighting. The end of the war meant that career officers would have fewer chances to move up in rank. The goddamn war was officially ending in hours and they sent their boys in to be sacrificed. Almost eleven thousand soldiers died on November 11, 1918. That's more men than died on the beaches of Normandy on D-day in World War Two, twenty-six years later." He cracked his knuckles. "Politics beats out freedom, honor, and service every time. Don't ever forget that."
That quote stuck with me for days after finishing The Impossible Knife of Memory. Hayley Kincain and her father have spent most of her life crisscrossing the nation trying to outrun his demons. Andy Kincain, a war veteran who suffers from PTSD never stays in one place too long. Hayley spends her time taking care of her father, careful not to set him off but unsuccessful more often than not. The Impossible Knife of Memory is a poignant look at the life of veterans and their loved ones. We ask a lot from our veterans, up to and sometimes including death. The fact that there are veterans and their families suffering without the help they deserve is disgusting. How our country could even consider recruiting new soldiers before our veterans are receiving what they were promised is mind boggling.
When the old soldier's story was finished, Dad asked, "You know how Veterans Day started?"
"The armistice, the end of World War One, " Fin answered. "At eleven o'clock in the morning of November 11, 1918, all the troops on both sides stopped fighting. That's the day we honor vets."
"Here's what you don't know, " Dad said. "By five o'clock that morning, the officers had all gotten the message that the war would end that day. But lots of them ordered their men to keep fighting. The end of the war meant that career officers would have fewer chances to move up in rank. The goddamn war was officially ending in hours and they sent their boys in to be sacrificed. Almost eleven thousand soldiers died on November 11, 1918. That's more men than died on the beaches of Normandy on D-day in World War Two, twenty-six years later." He cracked his knuckles. "Politics beats out freedom, honor, and service every time. Don't ever forget that."
That quote stuck with me for days after finishing The Impossible Knife of Memory. Hayley Kincain and her father have spent most of her life crisscrossing the nation trying to outrun his demons. Andy Kincain, a war veteran who suffers from PTSD never stays in one place too long. Hayley spends her time taking care of her father, careful not to set him off but unsuccessful more often than not. The Impossible Knife of Memory is a poignant look at the life of veterans and their loved ones. We ask a lot from our veterans, up to and sometimes including death. The fact that there are veterans and their families suffering without the help they deserve is disgusting. How our country could even consider recruiting new soldiers before our veterans are receiving what they were promised is mind boggling.
dwcofer's review against another edition
2.0
I’ve read many of Anderson’s books and loved them all, but this one missed the mark. The book follows Halley, a young, disenfranchised, rebellious teenager. She hates school, hates her teachers, and hates life in general. She struggles in all of her classes, especially calculus (can’t blame her there), talks back to teachers, and spends as much time in detention as she does in class.
Her home life is a wreck as well. She lives with her father after his girlfriend, whom she also hates, left him years ago, but she keeps making reappearances in their lives. She has an off and on boyfriend, with whom she has a love/hate relationship. Her father is a mess. He drinks, cannot hold a job, and has bad memories and nightmares of his time in the service.
The book moves slowly with little to nothing new happening, with page after page of her dad messing up everyone’s life and Halley screwing up her school life. None of the characters were likeable or able to be related to by this reader. As a result, the book was rather boring and took me twice as long to finish it as it should have, as I hated picking it back up.
There were a few memorable lines in the book when Finn says, “Calculus is a joke that got out of hand,” and when Halley said, “You need a license to drive a car and to go fishing, but you don’t need a license to start a family. A perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by their parents.” Halley described her situation in life perfectly. A few nice lines like that earned the book a couple of starts.
There was one jarring plot hole I noticed. On page 153 Halley and Finn are in the library and they realize the library closes in 5 minutes, so they leave the library and go to the quarry to hang out a while. After they leave the quarry, they went back to the library, which closed hours earlier (page 164). This should have been caught by an editor.
The ending was unsatisfying. It appeared as she neared 400 pages of the same thing over and over, she realized she had to end the book, so in just a few pages she tied it up and everybody lived happily ever after. Terrible ending. Anderson, you are better than this.
Overall, not a terrible book, but not one of Anderson’s best. It appeared she mailed this one in.
Her home life is a wreck as well. She lives with her father after his girlfriend, whom she also hates, left him years ago, but she keeps making reappearances in their lives. She has an off and on boyfriend, with whom she has a love/hate relationship. Her father is a mess. He drinks, cannot hold a job, and has bad memories and nightmares of his time in the service.
The book moves slowly with little to nothing new happening, with page after page of her dad messing up everyone’s life and Halley screwing up her school life. None of the characters were likeable or able to be related to by this reader. As a result, the book was rather boring and took me twice as long to finish it as it should have, as I hated picking it back up.
There were a few memorable lines in the book when Finn says, “Calculus is a joke that got out of hand,” and when Halley said, “You need a license to drive a car and to go fishing, but you don’t need a license to start a family. A perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by their parents.” Halley described her situation in life perfectly. A few nice lines like that earned the book a couple of starts.
There was one jarring plot hole I noticed. On page 153 Halley and Finn are in the library and they realize the library closes in 5 minutes, so they leave the library and go to the quarry to hang out a while. After they leave the quarry, they went back to the library, which closed hours earlier (page 164). This should have been caught by an editor.
The ending was unsatisfying. It appeared as she neared 400 pages of the same thing over and over, she realized she had to end the book, so in just a few pages she tied it up and everybody lived happily ever after. Terrible ending. Anderson, you are better than this.
Overall, not a terrible book, but not one of Anderson’s best. It appeared she mailed this one in.
missprint_'s review against another edition
3.0
Hayley and her father Andy have been on the road for the past five years. Sometimes riding in Andy's rig. Sometimes laying low while Andy tries to hold down a job and Hayley does her version of homeschooling. But then everything stopped and Hayley has been moved back into a life she doesn't want in a childhood home she refuses to remember.
Being home gives Hayley a chance at a normal life with friends and maybe even a boyfriend. Unfortunately the more the Hayley lets down her guard and allows herself to imagine a future, instead of living day-to-day, the more obvious it is that Andy is still haunted by memories of all the demons and friends he left behind after his last tour over seas. With monstrous memories looming for both of them, Hayley begins to wonder if having a normal life is something she and her father are even capable of in The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014) by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Hayley is an unreliable who lies both to the reader and herself as pieces of her past unfold in memories that cut like knives and unwanted visitors from her past. Slowly, with flashback-like memories from both Hayley and her father, the story of how they returned home unfolds. At the same time, Anderson manages to ground this book in the present with a fledgling romance and a grocery list of other problems that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, would feel trite as the perfect facades of Hayley's friends also fall apart.
The Impossible Knife of Memory is an interesting book. But it's also an incredibly difficult read at times. My mother was very sick last year and it took a toll on both of us--so much so that, as I read this book, I saw much more of myself in Hayley than I would have liked. That said, Anderson's writing is excellent and returns here to the quality found in Speak with the same surprises and another fresh, surprising narrator. Although Andy is deeply troubled it was also nice to see a parental figure in a book with genuine affection for his daughter and interest in her well-being--even if it is mostly mired in the hardships that come with dealing with his own psychological traumas.
On the outset The Impossible Knife of Memory sounds like an issue book with its focus on Hayley's father's PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Anderson, however, brings her usual skill to this topic offering a well-rounded story that encompasses more than this one timely topic. I probably won't re-read this book because of the personal slant that made it hard to read. I am actually painfully certain I don't even want a copy in the house. That said, The Impossible Knife of Memory is an important book that is never heavy-handed or obnoxious. Instead Anderson offers an honest, unflinching portrayal of one family's difficulties with PTSD as well as the promise of not just a way through but also even a chance at a happy ending.
Possible Pairings: The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, Paper Towns by John Green, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Being home gives Hayley a chance at a normal life with friends and maybe even a boyfriend. Unfortunately the more the Hayley lets down her guard and allows herself to imagine a future, instead of living day-to-day, the more obvious it is that Andy is still haunted by memories of all the demons and friends he left behind after his last tour over seas. With monstrous memories looming for both of them, Hayley begins to wonder if having a normal life is something she and her father are even capable of in The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014) by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Hayley is an unreliable who lies both to the reader and herself as pieces of her past unfold in memories that cut like knives and unwanted visitors from her past. Slowly, with flashback-like memories from both Hayley and her father, the story of how they returned home unfolds. At the same time, Anderson manages to ground this book in the present with a fledgling romance and a grocery list of other problems that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, would feel trite as the perfect facades of Hayley's friends also fall apart.
The Impossible Knife of Memory is an interesting book. But it's also an incredibly difficult read at times. My mother was very sick last year and it took a toll on both of us--so much so that, as I read this book, I saw much more of myself in Hayley than I would have liked. That said, Anderson's writing is excellent and returns here to the quality found in Speak with the same surprises and another fresh, surprising narrator. Although Andy is deeply troubled it was also nice to see a parental figure in a book with genuine affection for his daughter and interest in her well-being--even if it is mostly mired in the hardships that come with dealing with his own psychological traumas.
On the outset The Impossible Knife of Memory sounds like an issue book with its focus on Hayley's father's PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Anderson, however, brings her usual skill to this topic offering a well-rounded story that encompasses more than this one timely topic. I probably won't re-read this book because of the personal slant that made it hard to read. I am actually painfully certain I don't even want a copy in the house. That said, The Impossible Knife of Memory is an important book that is never heavy-handed or obnoxious. Instead Anderson offers an honest, unflinching portrayal of one family's difficulties with PTSD as well as the promise of not just a way through but also even a chance at a happy ending.
Possible Pairings: The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, Paper Towns by John Green, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
caitiep92's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.75
uncannyvalerie's review against another edition
4.0
The pain n this story felt raw and real. The bond between Hayley and her father is palpable, and not unrealistic.
See my full review here.
See my full review here.
crystalmbookshelf83's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fernandlillyreadswithme's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25