Laurie Halse Anderson's latest book for teens, The Impossible Knife of Memory, is about
a young woman named Hayley struggling to adjust with her new "normal"
life. For the past several years, she has been on the road with her father,
never settling in one place too long. Her veteran father has a myriad of
painful memories that follow him wherever he goes, leading him down a path of
alcohol, drugs, and severe mood swings. With his PTSD, it is nearly impossible
for him to live a normal, functional life. Since her the death of her mother
and grandmother, and her stepmother's abandonment, Hayley has switched
roles with her father, playing the parts of caregiver and defendant.
The book begins not too long after the start of this
"normal" life. Hayley sets herself up as an underachieving rebel,
seeming to care about little aside from the declining health of her struggling
father. She has a very small group of close-knit friends that seem to level her
out and provide her with the uniformity her father wants for her. It is clear
from the start that she has above average intelligence, despite the fact that
she has not attended structured school in years.
The start of the story is a bit slow to me. The characters
are quite John Green-esque, with the snide, reserved girl and the overly witty,
nerdy-but-cool boy. However, after several pages, the characters settle into
their roles and the pages begin to move more fluidly. Really, Hayley is quite obnoxious, both in her
treatment of others and in her filing everyone away into one of two categories:
freaks or zombies.
Hayley’s brashness is one of the reasons this book started
out a little slow to me, but then I realized that this trait does not make her unlikeable.
Rather, it can be attributed to the fact that she feels no loyalty to anyone
except her father, that she has been abandoned by all of her caretakers (by
death or otherwise), and that she has never had the luxury of friends. It makes
sense that she would assume an air of presumption and cynicism.
Trouble finds Hayley at all sides. Her boyfriend’s family is
divided thanks to his drug-addicted sister, and her best friend’s parents are
in the middle of a tumultuous divorce. Many of her teachers view her as a
troublemaker, but she rejects the few that do try to help. Perhaps because
Hayley has never known normal, she does not recognize how abnormal her life
really is.
It is beyond frustrating to watch the deterioration of
Hayley's father and her denial that goes alongside it. Hayley's love for her
father runs so deep that she is blind to his descent, despite all the blatant
cries for help. He flits from job to job, then regresses to spending days
locked away in his room. She watches his alcoholism progress, his drug habits
gain momentum, his rejection of all his old friends, and his outright refusal
to seek professional help. It goes from a difficult situation to flagrant danger.
Her relationship with her boyfriend Finn is funny and
provides the story with a bit of much needed lightness. This courtship is enjoyable
enough to read about, but it’s not necessarily realistic. He’s sweet, smart,
good-looking, and just the right amount of pushy. I didn’t know they made them
like this in high school. Or maybe they just didn’t make them like this in my high school. What I’m trying to say
is that I think Finn is a little too good to be a real teenage (human) boy.
My biggest and only real complaint is the ending. Without
giving away too much, I will just say that I do not like all ends to be tied up
so tightly. If everything is resolved, if everything becomes perfectly neat, it
takes away from the heart wrenching experience of everything you read prior.
But I’m not saying that I like cliffhangers either. There’s a happy medium
after all.
Regardless, this is a very important book, as is everything
Laurie Halse Anderson writes. She tackles sensitive issues with grace and
poise, allowing you to read something that may make you uncomfortable, but is
something necessary all the same. I personally have not read many books that
deal with PTSD, but this one is quite eye opening. At times, it is simply
frustrating; at other times, it is heartbreaking; yet at others, it is
infuriating. However the emotion, you know a book has done a good job when it
makes you feel right alongside its main character.
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