"The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
1.
Ness, Patrick. (2008) The Knife of Never Letting
Go. Cambridge, Ma: Candlewick Press. ISBN: 978-0-7636-3931-0
I found this book to be very strange
and confusing in the beginning. There is so much the reader does not know about
the world they are immersed in that it almost soured me on the whole
experience. I am very glad, however, that I stuck it out and kept reading.
The story is about Todd, and his
dog Manchee, and New World. It seems to be almost post-apocalyptic since people
have fled Earth and found a new planet to live on, doing much the same as Americans
did the first time we decided a new land was ours. They killed the natives and
made their own rules. In Prentisstown, just like the rest of the planet, men
can hear each other’s thoughts, all of them. They call it noise and it seems
terrifying! Nobody has secrets and even the animals can talk. The only upside to
this is that Todd’s dog Manchee can talk, and if that isn’t a dream of every
kid’s then my name is Bob, (and it’s not).
Prentisstown has no women and Todd
thinks it is because a “germ” killed them. The reason the reader is so
frustrated and confused in the beginning of this book is because Todd is so frustrated
and confused. He is almost a man but doesn’t understand what that means yet.
The more he understands, the less he wants to be a part of Prentisstown. Or is
it New Elizabeth?
This book was a long one, but it
really needed every page, (and still left the reader dangling at the edge of a
cliff on page 479). There is A LOT going on in Todd’s life and it is a
dangerous ride for his new companion Viola and Manchee. There is adventure,
interesting swearing, from the perspective of a 13-year-old, and so many lies
and secrets revealed that you forget this is a Young Adult novel. So much of this book caught me by surprise and made me feel
that no matter how awkward and difficult our world is, it could always get
worse on the path to improvement.
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