The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Knife of Never Letting Go

By: Patrick Ness

Ness, P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.

Summary and Response:
Told in first person stream of consciousness, we are taken into Todd's life as he is on the verge of becoming a man. We learn that years ago an alien race called Spackle killed off all the woman in  Prentisstown and left the men with "The Noise" germ. this means that every man can hear each others thoughts, so there are no secrets. We see that most often these thoughts are deceitful and vengeful. One day Todd and his faithful dog Manchee go out to the swamp and find a spot where "The Noise" is gone. Upon finding this Todd has to leave the town for he is in danger now. Todd ends up meeting the first woman he has ever seen, Viola. Together they journey from town to town trying to stay safe but the army (the men from Prentisstown) keep coming and slaughtering everyone. Eventually Manshee is killed and Todd has to carry a dying Viola to the town of Haven. The novel ends on a huge cliffhanger and is part of what makes this novel an excellent read. Because of the stream of consciousness, a lot of Todd's thoughts are grammatically incorrect. It would be great to use these portions to review revising and editing rules. It is also a great story to make predictions on what will happen in the next book using textual evidence for support.