The Impossible Knife of Memory: Review

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

It might be safe to say that I inhaled this book and its incredibly crafted story, breathing out the smoke of words I digested and chewed over, coating my classroom in metaphors both grotesque and moving.

This novel was the first of the Book a Month Challenge myself and my PLN established on Twitter, and I enjoyed this novel both as a reader and as a teacher.

My learners noticed my reading it around the corridors; parents stopped me in the car park to ask what I was reading and to make sure I didn't walk into anything.

An intriguing and moving novel about an intense father-daughter relationship of trauma and heartache, Amazon describes it as "Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down" - I guess I cannot disagree.

I have taken and used many passages to teach figurative language as the writing demonstrates metaphor and personification in a complex yet accessible way. This novel will be read again to absorb the beauty of language and will take permanent residence on the shelves of my classroom library.