The Impossible Knife of Memory

By: Laurie Halse Anderson

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Luke Daniels

Despite my best intentions, I was beginning to understand how my dad saw the world. The shadows haunting every living thing. The secrets inside the lies wrapped in bullshit. Even Gracie’s box of pills was beginning to make sense.

For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, trying to outrun the memories that haunt them both. They moved back to Andy’s hometown to try a “normal” life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives. Hayley watches, helpless, as her father turns to drugs and alcohol to silence his demons. And then her own past creeps up, and everything falls apart.

How do you keep your father alive when death is stalking him? What are you supposed to do when your parent stops acting like an adult? And what happens if a sweet guy who can make you laugh barges his way into your world and for the first time, you find yourself thinking about the future?

Timely, compelling, surprising — this is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest.

©2014 Laurie Halse Anderson (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Julia Whelan's expert performance brings out the complexity of Hayley's character, picking up on her vulnerability and defensive toughness, mixing both with a good dose of teen attitude. Whelan's solid characterizations, varied cadence, and expressive reading strengthen the listener's connection to this emotionally intense story. Narrator Luke Daniels delivers the few sections told from Andy's point of view. His mature voice makes a believable contrast with Whelan's, and he captures Andy's tortured flashbacks and overwhelming feelings of survivor guilt. An unforgettable audiobook for older teens and adults." ( AudioFile)

The panic in the character’s vioces

The excerpts from the dad really rude the story together made the story come together

All the Feelings

LHA writes in a way that makes you feel everything that is going on with the characters. You feel like you are right in the thick of it with them. And amazingly, JW transports you into the story with her voice. She brings the story alive; has a wonderful voice and style. You never feel like she is reading the book, just that she is telling the author's story as her own.

It was a surprise - and I LOVE this author

This book was quite a surprise. It was amazing how deep things ran yet the narrator was still 17 in many ways. The reader, Julia Whelan, did a GREAT job. I had a bit of a problem with the seemingly random interruptions by Haley's father (read by Luke Daniels). Here and there they added to the overall story overall but they didn't really connect much. Even if he had told these stories to Haley, they didn't offer any real insight into Andy (they were too brief for that) and the idea that he was messed up due to a TBI AND PTSD came across quite well without his interjections. Ms Anderson is always great for a journey into a mind and she once again comes away with top marks for her work.

An Instant Favorite

Any additional comments?

This my first Laurie Halse Anderson book, but it won't be my last!

This book is advertised with an emphasis on its darker aspects and the fact that it's an "issue book," and indeed it was very intense and raw in parts. This was complemented with stunningly poetic writing - it hit hard.

However, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it also had a perfect balance of lighter aspects - a smart though imperfect heroine (best kind) and a fantastic but realistic love interest/relationship. These things in combination with the moments of poetry and moments of intensity and - oh yeah - the fact that I was so ADDICTED to this book that I practically read it in one sitting - make it an instant favorite and an experience I will not forget.

I was very pleased by the narrator, her voices and intonation were subtle but spot on.

character development

The author walks you through a world tucked behind masks of "it's okay" to show you how it's not. She does this without breaking the reader's heart, but instead opening it. I learned compassion in the face of gaping hopelessness and witnessed strength in situations that mirror a reality I've never had to live through.