the impossible knife of memory (391 Pages)

Here is the new novel from Laurie Halse Anderson. I've read all of her YA novels and this is just as terrific as Speak was for me. In this book, Anderson presents us with Haley Kincaid, a high school senior who is attending a school for the first time. That's a really tough thing for a student to face, being a new student in your senior year! But it is made even more difficult for Haley as she deals with her father who is suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He has turned to drugs and alcohol to escape his demons, and Haley  has become his caretaker- a reverse in parent child expected relations. They are living in her grandmother's home, the home her dad grew up in, and where he believed things would improve for both of them. So things are looking pretty grim for Haley, and then she rekindles a friendship with Gracie, a friend from years ago. Gracie attempts to renew past memories from which Haley has escaped.  In addition to Gracie and Gracie's boyfriend, Topher, Haley meets and falls for Finn.  It is Finn, who accepts and soon adores Haley, that she is able to almost cope with the new school and her father's PTSD. I found this book to be a great read, an easy read, and Anderson's ability to build characters who seem so very real, and who matter to the reader only make the reading of her novel better.