The Knife of Never Letting Go

by Patrick Ness
Read: September 2-4, 2012
Published: May 5th 2008 by Walker
Source: Library book
Category: YA - sci/fi, dystopian 
Series: Book 1 in the Chaos Walking trilogy

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

I read The Knife of Never Letting Go (hereafter shortened to The Knife) along with my friend Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books. It was her second time through the book, and we emailed back and forth quite a bit while reading it (she LOVES this series). I think my experience with this story was even BETTER, because I was able to talk about it while I was going through it. Thank you, Asheley! 

The setting:

Old World aka Earth, has been decimated, so humans have sought a new place to live, creating a New World on a different planet. New World has similar features to earth, but it is green and habitable, which earth is no longer. The colonizers soon discovered that on this new planet, you can hear everything that everyone around you is thinking, and they can hear you too. Called Noise, the constant inner thoughts of man  create a cacophony of sound that never ends. Even animals can be heard. There is one major exception to this, a Quiet amidst the Noise. But you have to read the book to find out what it is. 

The set up:

Todd has lived his whole life in Prentisstown on New World. The Noise is all he knows. He is one month away from turning 13 and becoming a man (they have 13 months in New World, which means in our world he'd already be 14) when he finds something out that changes everything. Suddenly, Todd has to reevaluate everything he knows - while running for his life. 

The characters:
The Knife is told through the eyes of Todd Hewitt. A boy who has lived his entire life hearing everyone's thoughts around him. Therefore, he is pretty shocked to find out that he's been lied to his entire life. I really fell in love with Todd throughout the story. One of my favorite parts of this book was watching his journey, and the ways that he grew through it. Todd makes mistakes, and there were times that I wanted to scream at him to STOP IT or TELL SOMEONE. But I tried not to let my adult perspective crowd out Todd's. I think his behavior made sense for who he was, and I sympathized with him, even when he made Very Bad Decisions. 

Todd encounters Viola on his journey. As Todd has no experience with girls at all, he is amazed at how different she is from him. It is also fun to watch them learn to interact with each other.  I love the relationship that Todd and Viola develop as they travel together. It is not romantic (yet). But there is a depth to it because of shared purpose and experiences. She is his first honest peer relationship, and the added complication of her being a different gender makes everything more interesting. 

Manchee - Todd's talking dog. Not just for comic relief (although he does provide that as well), Manchee is integral to the story. I grew very attached to him.

Bad People - There are a lot of them, and some just Would.Not.Go.Away! 

Helpful People - Thankfully, Todd encounters some of those as well. Two of my favorites were Hildy and Wilf.

The writing:

I LOVE how The Knife is written. The book spells words like Todd speaks them, which is to say not always correctly. This makes his character and the world where he lives stand out as unique (in a good way!). The book is written through Todd's eyes and one thing I love about it is how well Patrick Ness captures the way that Todd sees the world. Mr. Ness accomplishes this is in the rhythm of how Todd speaks, and in all the ways Todd describes the world around him. It is BEAUTIFUL. I can't tell you how many gorgeous quotes are in this book. 

The quote below comes from the beginning where Todd is describing the mysterious Quiet. When I read this paragraph, I fell in love with the writing in the book. 

It's like a shape you can't see except by how everything else around it is touching it. Like water in the shape of a cup, but with no cup. It's a hole and everything that falls into it stops being Noise, stops being anything, just stops all together. It's not like the quiet of the swamp, which is never quiet obviously, just less Noisy. But this, this is a shape, a shape of nothing, a hole where all noise stops. 

Some more on Todd:

Besides the writing, Todd  - and the way he grows - is what made this story great for me. From what he knows at the beginning to the people he meets and the information that he discovers along his journey, Todd changes in big ways. He faces terrible situations and makes bad decisions. But he remains honest and true to himself. I love Todd's honesty. The way he faces his mistakes head on. The way he rages at himself. The raw emotion within him. I love that he is young. As the story progresses, he looses what innocence he had, but he still remains fundamentally the same person. I am really looking forward to following his progress through the next books. 

Themes:

I noticed some parallels with - and critique on the idea of colonization. I'm interested to see how/if this plays out through out the second and third novels. There are others, but it's hard to articulate them without spoilers.

The Cliffy:

The Knife is definitely written to be part of a series and it ends at a cliffhanger that is OFF THE CHARTS. It is pretty much a ten on the cliffhanger scale. Thankfully, book two and three are released already.  

Love Triangle Factor: N/A
Rating: 4.5 stars