The Impossible Knife of Memory: Chapters 49–69

by Laurie Halse Anderson
After years of instability, Hayley and her father, Andy, return to Andy's hometown to make a fresh start. But Andy's PTSD from the Iraq War and Hayley's own traumatic memories threaten their ability to rebuild their lives.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–27, Chapters 28–48, Chapters 49–69, Chapters 70–94
30 words 19 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. diplomacy
    subtly skillful handling of a situation
    "Maybe you should work on your diplomacy a little bit.”
  2. impending
    close in time; about to occur
    The indicator lights showed no impending disasters.
  3. hallowed
    worthy of religious veneration
    Swevenbury is what all other colleges want to be when they grow up. They say the grounds are seriously hallowed. Set foot on the campus and it changes you forever.
  4. goad
    urge with or as if with a prod
    I tried to goad him with stories of my years stalking ivory poachers in Southern Cameroons and the time that the Dalai Lama and I got snowed in on a mountaintop and played checkers until dawn, but Finn wasn’t interested in talking.
  5. turret
    a small tower extending above a building
    The admission office was in a red stone castle, complete with turret and winding staircase.
  6. scansion
    analysis of verse into metrical patterns
    We lingered by a few open doorways, catching random bits of lecture and arguments about Kant and Indonesian history and bonding equivalencies and scansion and King Lear.
  7. despondent
    without or almost without hope
    “Not yet, but I am slightly less despondent. You were right. It was a good idea, coming here.”
  8. earnest
    characterized by a firm, sincere belief in one's opinions
    “There are lots of scholarships,” she said, her forehead wrinkled into the earnest lines of sincerity.
  9. conventional
    conforming with accepted standards
    His saliva had infected me with a strain of Finnegan Ramos Conventional Success Syndrome. I stopped gaming and stayed up past three trying to memorize eight weeks’ worth of Chinese characters.
  10. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    This was the first time I’d ventured past the washer and dryer since then.
  11. emir
    an independent ruler or chieftain
    As Finn cooked the bacon and pancakes, he tried to keep me distracted by chattering about his years as an apprentice chef at an emir’s palace in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
  12. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    Gracie tripped over the threshold.
  13. afghan
    a blanket knitted or crocheted in strips or squares
    Gracie curled up under an afghan on the couch, her head on Topher’s lap, her fogged eyes losing the fight to stay open.
  14. fray
    wear away by rubbing
    That was before we knew about the fraying wires in his skull.
  15. dander
    particles of animal skin or hair that may be allergenic
    Spock jumped up and shook himself, raising a cloud of fur and dander that hung in the sunlight.
  16. lurch
    move abruptly
    "Oh, God,” Gracie said, lurching for the trash can.
  17. bleary
    tired to the point of exhaustion
    Wednesday morning, he picked me up late, yawning and bleary-eyed. He said he hadn’t gotten any sleep, but when I asked why, he shrugged and turned on the radio.
  18. catatonic
    characterized by unresponsiveness or lack of movement
    Memorials of soggy teddy bears and dead flowers. Sobbing friends. Catatonic parents.
  19. cull
    remove something that has been rejected
    Jonas was a quiet freak, not a zombie. The horde would not protect him. They’d stand by and watch the culling.
  20. hallmark
    a distinctive characteristic or attribute
    “The warped perception of time is a hallmark of trauma,” he said.
  21. defame
    charge falsely or with malicious intent
    “You’d scare the llamas.”
    “You defame me, sir,” I said. "I am a kind and gentle friend of llamas.”
  22. bounty
    the property of being richly abundant or plentiful
    "I’m not paying for any of that,” she said, looking over my bounty.
  23. cryptic
    having a puzzling terseness
    “Why are they wearing shorts?” I asked, pointing to a group of guys walking ahead of us. “It’s barely twenty degrees out.”
    “Baseball,” Topher said cryptically.
  24. skirmish
    a minor short-term fight
    A snowball skirmish opened up by the flagpole.
  25. altercation
    a noisy, angry argument or fight between people
    No, but that little altercation gave me another chance to talk to your dad.
  26. sporadic
    recurring in scattered or unpredictable instances
    “You haven’t turned in homework for almost two weeks. Before that, your effort was sporadic at best.”
  27. scrutinize
    look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
    “Colleges will scrutinize your grades this year, especially because you’re not a traditional student. You have to step up to the plate, get in the game.”
  28. quota
    a prescribed number
    “Do you get a bonus for every college application we file? Is there a quota you have to meet?”
  29. ensemble
    a group of musicians playing or singing together
    They canceled Model United Nations, Latin Club, the Brass Ensemble, and the newspaper.
  30. projection
    a prediction made by extrapolating from past observations
    Their revenue projections for this year were way off.
Created on Mon Jan 04 13:14:37 EST 2021 (updated Fri Jan 08 12:28:22 EST 2021)

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