Book Summary
Todd Hewitt lives in Prentisstown somewhere in the dystopian future. Everyone in this town can hear everyone else's thoughts including Todd's dog Manchee. It's all Noise, and there is not escaping it. Another weird thing about the town is there are no women. According to history, all the women, including Todd's mother, died from a virus brought by the town's enemies. A month before his birthday that will make him a man (twelve, thirteen,???), Todd comes across an area of quiet in the swamp. He realizes town has lied to him, and he is forced to run. His guardian gives him a map to the nearest friendly settlement and a knife. In the silent area, he finds a girl, a "pioneer" whose ship crashed and killed her parents. Of course the town is anxious to get her, too, so both of them run. They are chased by dangerously evil people. Todd learns to use his knife, accept the help of people along the way, and trust a girl, Viola he has never met before. Since the town lied to him about every place having "Noise", Todd is pretty sure they have lied to him about other things. Several times, the reader may think the two children are safe, but the evil Prentisstown posse never lets them rest very long. At the end, the two are captured, and the situation looks very dark---and the story continues in the next book.
My Impressions
Honestly, I didn't enjoy this book. It was too stressful to enjoy. The future that is described is so bleak as if all the light is vanquished. To me, Todd is not a very sympathetic character. He seems to always be mistrusting himself and others. For instance, he has a tendency to swear when he is upset and doesn't know what to do. To make matters worse, Viola can hear his thoughts, but he cannot hear hers. Despite his lack of faith in himself, he calls himself a "fool,...worthless effing fool," he finally gains some calm by the middle of the book. He and Viola stay constantly on the move, unable to rest or enjoy the friends along the way. I suppose it frightens me that no matter how hard they try, they cannot escape the evil. I am interested in seeing the new movie based on the book. I am wondering how it will compare to The Hunger Games film.
Professional Review
Sisak, A. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 62(2), 91.
Todd is the only boy left in a town full of men, and soon he'll undergo the highly secretive coming-of-age ceremony himself. An illness there has left men (women were immune) with constantly audible thoughts, so when Todd hears a curious silence in the woods, it leads him away from those he loves and into a completely different life. Todd, raised to believe that all women were killed by the germ, the native species on this planet are hostile and had to be eradicated, and that the town is filled with decent men struggling to survive, quickly learns that every single element of what he believes to be true is a horrible lie, shrouded in betrayal, murder, and obsessive revenge. The silence in the forest comes from a girl, and the two embark on a quest to find safety in a world that is life-threatening at every turn for a boy whose town wants him dead so he cannot reveal their secrets. Todd and Viola, the girl he befriends, are realistically portrayed as kids frequently overwhelmed and terrified by their circumstances, even while their resilience (and a hearty doese of youthful assumptions about invincibility) keeps them going. The nicely balanced mix of coming-of-age novel, science-fiction novel, and dystopic thriller will make this an appealing choice for a range of genre readers. The is the first volume out of a promised three, and there are therefore far more questions than answers in the cliffhanger ending; the still unsolved mysteries, carefully developed by Ness and left at tantalizing moments of resolution, guarantee anticipation for the next two.
Library Uses
1. Use this in a book talk about other dystopian futures such as The Hunger Games trilogy.
2. Students can make a map that follows the same path Todd and Viola take to reach safety.
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