The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Publication Date: June 2, 2015
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 416

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. 

My Thoughts:

And Laurie Halse Anderson has done it again. As a background, I loved Speak as a teenager and I love it now. I hated Wintergirls, though.  

This book brought back memories of reading Speak, which I did and still do relate to. The Impossible Knife of Memory is similarly relatable, even if you're not the target audience or going through the issues the main characters have to deal with.  

I don't want to say too much because I feel like I might give away key points of the plot, and to me, the best thing about Anderson's books are the twists and turns along the way. But I really, really, really loved this book. I didn't stop reading it from the time I started until I finished a few hours later. It was very well done and I will probably read it at least once more before I send it back to the library. 

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt like it ended without resolving a few issues. Granted, life doesn't get resolved tidily either, and maybe that's what Anderson was going for, but I would have liked to have seen [spoiler]'s drug usage addressed and more of what happened with [spoiler]'s family.