The Knife of Never Letting Go: Parts I–II

by Patrick Ness
Growing up in the extraterrestrial settlement of Prentisstown, Todd has always been taught that the virus that allows the men of his town to hear each other's thoughts is the same disease that killed the colony's girls and women. When Todd makes a discovery that endangers his safety, he flees his town and encounters a strange girl, Viola. Together they attempt to discover the truth about Prentisstown — while fighting for their lives.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Parts I–II, Part III, Parts IV-V, Part VI

Here is a link to our lists for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. jabber
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    ...and even tho you don’t want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now he’s got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving?
  2. idle
    not in action or at work
    Also true: going to the swamp to pick a few apples is not a job for a man cuz men are never allowed to be so idle.
  3. clamor
    loud and persistent outcry from many people
    But Ben knows he can ask me to go and he knows I’ll say yes to going because the swamp is the only place anywhere near Prentisstown where you can have half a break from all the Noise that men spill outta theirselves, all their clamor and clatter that never lets up, even when they sleep, men and the thoughts they don’t know they think even when everyone can hear.
  4. taunt
    harass with persistent criticism or carping
    He’s barking round the tree and the squirrel’s skittering back and forth on the tree trunk, taunting him.
  5. gulch
    a narrow gorge or ravine cut by a stream
    We keep on walking, staying clear of the river on our left. It runs down thru a series of gulches at the east of town, starting way up to the north past our farm and coming down the side of the town till it flattens out into a marshy part that eventually becomes the swamp.
  6. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    “Down, down, down!” he yelps, scrabbling away at the air.
  7. churn
    be agitated
    My Noise churns and bubbles like a stew on the boil till finally I have to stop for a minute to calm myself down a little.
  8. module
    a self-contained component used in combination with others
    Before I was born, boys were taught by their ma at home and then when there were only boys and men left, we just got sat down in front of vids and learning modules till Mayor Prentiss outlawed such things as “detrimental to the discipline of our minds.”
  9. detrimental
    causing harm or injury
    And then one day Mayor Prentiss decided to burn all the books, every single one of them, even the ones in men’s homes, cuz apparently books were detrimental as well and Mr. Royal, a soft man who made himself a hard man by drinking whisky in the classroom, gave up and took a gun and put an end to himself and that was it for my classroom teaching.
  10. fission
    splitting a massive nucleus with the release of energy
    The gas stayshun don’t work no more cuz the fission generator that made the gas went kerflooey last year and just sits there beside the gas stayshun like a hulking ugly hurt toe and no one’d live next to it except Mr. Hammar and Mr. Hammar’s much worse than Mr. Phelps cuz he’ll aim his Noise right at you.
  11. crest
    reach a high point
    The last thing you pass as you crest the hill of Prentisstown is the Mayor’s House which is the weirdest and hardest Noise of all cuz Mayor Prentiss–
    Well, Mayor Prentiss is different.
  12. harness
    exploit the power of
    He believes that Noise can be sorted out, that if you could harness it somehow, you could put it to use.
  13. forge
    make something, usually for a specific function
    And when you walk by the Mayor’s House, you can hear him, hear him and the men closest to him, his deputies and things, and they’re always doing these thought exercises, these counting things and imagining perfect shapes and saying orderly chants like I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME, whatever that’s sposed to mean, and it’s like he’s molding a little army into shape, like he’s preparing himself for something, like he’s forging some kind of Noise weapon.
  14. ewe
    female sheep
    I should say I’ll fold his flock into ours, like I did when Mr. Gault disappeared two winters ago, and they’ll be new ones to butcher, new ones to castrate, new ones to shear, new ones to put in pens with ewes at the right times, and will I get a thank you?
  15. sift
    distinguish and separate out
    He’s trying to read my Noise, see what truth he can sift from it, which most men think is a good enough excuse for starting a fight, but I don’t mind with Ben.
  16. rucksack
    a bag carried by a strap on your back or shoulder
    Ben shoves the sack of food into the rucksack and ties it shut.
  17. serrated
    notched like a saw with teeth pointing toward the apex
    It’s his hunting knife, the big ratchety one with the bone handle and the serrated edge that cuts practically everything in the world, the knife I was hoping to get for the birthday when I became a man.
  18. veer
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    We’ve gotten outta hearing distance from the farm and the river veers away east a little before it enters the top of the swamp so it’s taking us away from the town, too, and after a minute there ain’t nothing following us as we run ’cept my Noise and Manchee’s Noise and the sound of the running river which is just loud enough to cover the Noise of a hunting croc.
  19. keel over
    fall suddenly; collapse
    I’m breathing heavy and Manchee’s panting like he’s about to keel over but we don’t stop.
  20. bounteous
    given or giving freely
    “Just what in the name of God’s bounteous, glorified Eden are you doing down here in the swamp, Todd Hewitt?” he says, his breath smelling like meat and his Noise the scariest kinda crazy you never wanna hear.
  21. cower
    show submission or fear
    There it is, looking back at us, breathing heavy, crouched at the base of a tree, cowering from Manchee, its eyes practically dying from fright but still trying to offer up a pitiful threat with its arms.
  22. lichen
    a plant occurring in crusty patches on tree trunks or rocks
    And spacks grew their clothes right on their bodies, like lichens you could trim away to whatever shape you needed.
  23. rasp
    speak in a harsh, grating voice
    “Leave her alone,” my voice rasps but no one hears me.
  24. sacrament
    a formal religious ceremony conferring a specific grace
    Aaron’s Noise is blazing so loud I’m not sure he’d hear me even if I yelled. THE HOLY SACRAMENT and THE SIGN FROM GOD and THE PATH OF THE SAINT and pictures of the girl in a church, pictures of the girl drinking the wine and eating the host, pictures of the girl as an angel.
  25. untimely
    too soon; earlier than expected
    “The Mayor will be disappointed to hear about yer untimely departure from the earthly plain, boy,” Aaron says, taking another step.
  26. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    He tried to kill me, he wanted to kill the girl, he’s responsible for the ruckus in town, he’s gotta be the one who sent the Mayor to the farm and cuz of that he’s responsible for Ben and Cillian.
  27. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    We clamber round trees and over roots, getting deeper into the swamp.
  28. clearing
    a treeless tract of land in the middle of a wooded area
    When we get to a small clearing where there’s a bit of flat land and a break in the trees, I stop us.
  29. gouge
    make a groove in
    And there are a buncha trees just like it, a whole line of ’em, in fact, on either side of a great ditch gouged outta the swamp, now filled with water but piled-up dirt and burned plants all around it show that’s it gotta be a new thing, like someone came thru here and dug it up in one fiery swoop.
  30. glint
    be shiny, as if wet
    We’re getting closer and I shine the flashlight down to where we’re heading and something starts glinting back, something that ain’t tree or bush or animal or water.
  31. hull
    the frame or body of a ship
    I keep looking at the ship. That’s what it’s gotta be. I mean, look at it. A lot of it’s smashed beyond recognishun but you can still see something that might be a hull, might be an engine, even something that might have been a window.
  32. full-fledged
    having gained complete status
    It’s full-fledged night now, dark as anything outside our little circle of light.
  33. bluff
    a high steep bank
    After a little bit, we get to a small clearing, almost like a little field that rises up to a short bluff, standing just over the treetops.
  34. dale
    an open valley in a hilly area
    The ground stretching out before us in a green forest, curving downhill into proper valleys and dales as it starts to become real land again and not just the mucky bowl of a swamp and you can even see where the marsh starts turning back into a real river, cutting deeper and deeper canyons as it gets closer to the mountains.
  35. jut
    extend out or project in space
    I stumble on a bit and get my way round a big mass of shrubs and there she is, sitting on a big flat rock jutting outta the ground, her knees up to her chest, rocking back and forth, eyes wide but blank as ever.
  36. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    From the top of the bluff, you can see out over it, over where we drove our feet into oblivion by walking it all.
  37. pitiless
    without mercy or sympathy
    But like a great pitiless thing he raises his arm and points, points it directly at me, like I’m sitting across a table from him.
  38. steep
    set at a high angle (of a slope)
    Next to the river is starting to become too rocky and steep to run on and I can see a path cutting its way up from the riverbank, going along the top of the canyon.
  39. resin
    a viscous substance obtained from plants or simple molecules
    I look closer at the rope. It looks like it’s coated in some kind of thin resin.
    Some kind of ruddy tough, steel-like resin that ain’t for cutting.
  40. obliterate
    do away with completely, without leaving a trace
    It blasts away the ropes and the stake, spraying fiery splinters all over us and obliterating all thought, Noise, and sound.
Created on Sun Nov 18 12:12:14 EST 2018 (updated Thu Apr 25 09:48:26 EDT 2019)

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