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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
This book was psychological! I was so intrigued and I completely devoured this book. It was both real and fantastical. Nova Ren Suma reimagines the strength of sisters and of blood and family. Imaginary Girls is the story of two girls. Chloe and Ruby is sisters that share a bond that goes beyond blood. While Chloe runs from fear only to return, Ruby does anything she can to keep her with her.
With a touch of magical realism Suma reinvents the meaning of sisters.
An unbelievable novel
With a touch of magical realism Suma reinvents the meaning of sisters.
An unbelievable novel
Author has great writing style and first chapter really pulled me in. After that, I was mostly disappointed. There are well drawn characters here with very little plot. I kept waiting for something substantial to happen with the plot and it really never did. I stuck with it hoping to see some sort of resolution.
Not a book for me, really depressing with an ending not satisfying! I am so disappointed with this book.
Many things left unanswered but no where near as confused as I was!
There are some stories you read and you just know you’re going to love it. For me, Imaginary Girls was definitely one of those. I love stories about sisters. About girls who will do anything for each other. I love books that just feel magical. And Imaginary Girls does all of that.
From the first page Imaginary Girls drew me in and kept me captivated. The story is half fairy tale, half teen drama, with Chloe’s sister Ruby right in the middle of it all. When she speaks, anything is possible. Even dead girls coming back to life. Even everyone forgetting that she ever died.
And I just really adored the exploration of Ruby and Chloe’s relationship. Like many sibling relationships, they love each other, but it’s a love that often has to contend with jealousy and trying to look after one another, and resenting being looked after, and resenting the resentment, but never ever doubting that they’d die for each other and do absolutely anything for one another.
Even if you’re not huge on fantasy themes this is a great book, with a lot of heart, and actually fairly light on supernatural. It’s creepy, and hypnotic, and perfect if you’ve had enough of endings designed to leave you on edge for a year.
From the first page Imaginary Girls drew me in and kept me captivated. The story is half fairy tale, half teen drama, with Chloe’s sister Ruby right in the middle of it all. When she speaks, anything is possible. Even dead girls coming back to life. Even everyone forgetting that she ever died.
And I just really adored the exploration of Ruby and Chloe’s relationship. Like many sibling relationships, they love each other, but it’s a love that often has to contend with jealousy and trying to look after one another, and resenting being looked after, and resenting the resentment, but never ever doubting that they’d die for each other and do absolutely anything for one another.
Even if you’re not huge on fantasy themes this is a great book, with a lot of heart, and actually fairly light on supernatural. It’s creepy, and hypnotic, and perfect if you’ve had enough of endings designed to leave you on edge for a year.
My only real reaction to this book is "meh". I wasn't that thrilled with it more as a matter of personal preference than because of any flaws. In all, it's a well done novel, it's just not really my cup of tea. More complete review to follow.
Full review:
For me, one of the worst things that can happen when I finish a book is for me to feel ambivalent about it. Even if a book is bad, it means that it provoked some kind of reaction in me, so a book that just makes me think "meh" is one that fails to elicit any real reaction on my part. Unfortunately, Imaginary Girls is one such book. It's not a bad book and, in fact, some of it is very well-written. But, by the time I'd finished, I just felt pretty indifferent about it. Spoilers to follow.
One of the ultimate strengths of the novel is the supernatural elements, though I'm not sure these had as much impact as they could have. I was very confused for the first part of the novel, trying to piece together exactly what was going on. However, once I had a better grasp on things, I thought the story was very eerie, particularly the imagery of the submerged town and the way the reservoir became almost a living creature, relentlessly pursuing Chloe. Still, I thought that Chloe was just too accepting of the general weirdness of her life, and that didn't work for me. If the point was that she just didn't want to touch it because she couldn't deal with it, I don't think the narrative adequately conveyed that. As it was, I think she was a little too apt to roll with things that would cause most other people to freak out at least a little.
The thing I most disliked about the book was the character of Ruby. I just thought she was so thoroughly unlikable that I couldn't understand why Chloe simply went along with everything her sister told her to do. Ruby ostensibly cares about Chloe, but she's not shy about exploiting and using pretty much everyone else. Though there are some points in the novel where it's obvious that perhaps the people in town don't like Ruby quite as much as Chloe may have believed, it simply didn't make sense to me that Ruby could get away with as much as she could, particularly when it came to Chloe. I also didn't entirely buy that Ruby was doing what she did in order to protect Chloe. In many ways, Chloe was simply another pawn that she could easily manipulate, and I really wanted to see Chloe stand up and defy her sister. It was very disappointing to me that she didn't. It was a real weakness of the novel that the reader doesn't get to see enough of Chloe and Ruby's relationship to fully realize just why Chloe seems to worship her sister unquestioningly.
I also felt that Ruby and Chloe's mother wasn't put to good use in the novel. I liked the scene where Chloe finally talks with her mother and realizes that her mother is afraid of Ruby. Because their mother is absent from so much of the novel, I felt this was a really missed opportunity to play up Ruby's ominous side. I also think their mother was given short shrift because her alcoholism and absenteeism might have been due to her inability to cope with what she knew her daughter to be, but the novel doesn't really offer up enough proof of this to make it as strong a subplot as it could have been.
I have to say, I also found it very annoying that Suma named each chapter according to the first few words of that chapter. It didn't bother me much at first, but as I got further into the novel, I was just annoyed by the repetition. I think Suma would have been better off just leaving this device out and simply numbering each chapter.
Lastly, there was a lack of clarity at times that didn't really do the novel any favors. A lot of it felt dreamlike to me, but not necessarily in a good way. Because the reader is often thrown right into the middle of a situation, it is sometimes difficult to follow the action. It's also confusing because characters who were doing one thing are suddenly doing something very different. This gave the novel a disjointed feel that was not to its advantage.
It's a shame I didn't like this novel more. The writing is strong and Suma has a great concept, as well as creating a very eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were some flaws to it that made it difficult to become as immersed in the story as I might otherwise have been.
Full review:
For me, one of the worst things that can happen when I finish a book is for me to feel ambivalent about it. Even if a book is bad, it means that it provoked some kind of reaction in me, so a book that just makes me think "meh" is one that fails to elicit any real reaction on my part. Unfortunately, Imaginary Girls is one such book. It's not a bad book and, in fact, some of it is very well-written. But, by the time I'd finished, I just felt pretty indifferent about it. Spoilers to follow.
One of the ultimate strengths of the novel is the supernatural elements, though I'm not sure these had as much impact as they could have. I was very confused for the first part of the novel, trying to piece together exactly what was going on. However, once I had a better grasp on things, I thought the story was very eerie, particularly the imagery of the submerged town and the way the reservoir became almost a living creature, relentlessly pursuing Chloe. Still, I thought that Chloe was just too accepting of the general weirdness of her life, and that didn't work for me. If the point was that she just didn't want to touch it because she couldn't deal with it, I don't think the narrative adequately conveyed that. As it was, I think she was a little too apt to roll with things that would cause most other people to freak out at least a little.
The thing I most disliked about the book was the character of Ruby. I just thought she was so thoroughly unlikable that I couldn't understand why Chloe simply went along with everything her sister told her to do. Ruby ostensibly cares about Chloe, but she's not shy about exploiting and using pretty much everyone else. Though there are some points in the novel where it's obvious that perhaps the people in town don't like Ruby quite as much as Chloe may have believed, it simply didn't make sense to me that Ruby could get away with as much as she could, particularly when it came to Chloe. I also didn't entirely buy that Ruby was doing what she did in order to protect Chloe. In many ways, Chloe was simply another pawn that she could easily manipulate, and I really wanted to see Chloe stand up and defy her sister. It was very disappointing to me that she didn't. It was a real weakness of the novel that the reader doesn't get to see enough of Chloe and Ruby's relationship to fully realize just why Chloe seems to worship her sister unquestioningly.
I also felt that Ruby and Chloe's mother wasn't put to good use in the novel. I liked the scene where Chloe finally talks with her mother and realizes that her mother is afraid of Ruby. Because their mother is absent from so much of the novel, I felt this was a really missed opportunity to play up Ruby's ominous side. I also think their mother was given short shrift because her alcoholism and absenteeism might have been due to her inability to cope with what she knew her daughter to be, but the novel doesn't really offer up enough proof of this to make it as strong a subplot as it could have been.
I have to say, I also found it very annoying that Suma named each chapter according to the first few words of that chapter. It didn't bother me much at first, but as I got further into the novel, I was just annoyed by the repetition. I think Suma would have been better off just leaving this device out and simply numbering each chapter.
Lastly, there was a lack of clarity at times that didn't really do the novel any favors. A lot of it felt dreamlike to me, but not necessarily in a good way. Because the reader is often thrown right into the middle of a situation, it is sometimes difficult to follow the action. It's also confusing because characters who were doing one thing are suddenly doing something very different. This gave the novel a disjointed feel that was not to its advantage.
It's a shame I didn't like this novel more. The writing is strong and Suma has a great concept, as well as creating a very eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were some flaws to it that made it difficult to become as immersed in the story as I might otherwise have been.
I'm not really sure what I thought of this book yet.
I'm really kind of unsure about this one. I had heard so many wonderful things about Imaginary Girls, so I guess I was expecting a lot. I don't like writing negative reviews, but I think they also play an important role. With that said, I can say that Imaginary Girls just wasn't for me. I enjoyed Nova's writing style for the most part, but I couldn't get into the story. I also couldn't find one redeeming character, which made the whole process of trying to like the book that much harder. Unfortunately. My opinion on this novel is so confused, I don't know that any rating (or review) will be able to sufficiently depict my muddled feelings.
Other than what is stated in the synopsis and book trailer above, I knew absolutely nothing about Imaginary Girls before I jumped into it. I guess you could say it's about two sisters, a mysterious reservoir and a summer when everything changed.
As I mentioned before, I couldn't find a single likable character. I wanted to like Chloe. I wanted to like Ruby. I wanted to like the fact that they were two sisters who would do anything for one another (much like I would do anything for my sister). But I didn't. I didn't like Chloe. Her actions never seemed genuine to her character. I couldn't sympathize with or get intrigued by Ruby. Though she is described as having a magnetic personality, I could never see what was so wonderful about her. As for their sisterly relationship? Well... they were strangely obsessed with one another, to say the least. I'm extremely close with my sister, but Chloe and Ruby had a disturbing, unhealthy relationship. The secondary characters were also very unappealing. The "love interests" in the novel were anything but interesting. The parents, friends and other various people really didn't play much of a part in redeeming to story to me, either. With the exception of Ruby being larger than life, every character was flat. Maybe if the characters were a little more fleshed out, I might have enjoyed the book more. Maybe.
The setting of the small town next to the mysterious reservoir had some serious potential, but I don't think it was used to it's full capacity. Really, the reservoir is the star attraction as far as the setting is concerned. Apparently there used to be a town where the reservoir now is, but it was destroyed long ago. Ruby tells Chloe a story about what happened, but with Ruby you never know what is fact and what is fiction. I would have liked to know what really happened and if any part of the myth Ruby told was actually true. Like I said, there was a lot of potential to develop the setting, but it too fell flat for me.
I guess one positive thing I can share about Imaginary Girls is that it was never predictable. There was a fair amount of suspense and I wasn't able to guess one single thing that was going to happen. I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time I was reading it. The bad side of that, however, is that even after finishing the novel, I still had no clue what the book was about. I had so many questions while I was reading and none of them were answered. Not a single one. Also, just when I thought the story was going to pick up, it fell flat and ended. The climax was so... it was so anticlimactic! It got my hopes up and then left me feeling very disappointed and deflated.
Imaginary girls was suspenseful and intriguing to a point, but I just didn't get it. I might not have enjoyed it much, but that's not to say nobody else will. I know there are heaps of people with rave reviews, but I'm sad to say I'm not one of them. The best advice I can give is to keep your mind wide open if and when you read this one and be prepared for an insane, surreal ride.
A favorite quote: "The story you choose to tell isn't always the story you believe."
Review as posted on my blog: Kaleidoscopic Reveries
Other than what is stated in the synopsis and book trailer above, I knew absolutely nothing about Imaginary Girls before I jumped into it. I guess you could say it's about two sisters, a mysterious reservoir and a summer when everything changed.
As I mentioned before, I couldn't find a single likable character. I wanted to like Chloe. I wanted to like Ruby. I wanted to like the fact that they were two sisters who would do anything for one another (much like I would do anything for my sister). But I didn't. I didn't like Chloe. Her actions never seemed genuine to her character. I couldn't sympathize with or get intrigued by Ruby. Though she is described as having a magnetic personality, I could never see what was so wonderful about her. As for their sisterly relationship? Well... they were strangely obsessed with one another, to say the least. I'm extremely close with my sister, but Chloe and Ruby had a disturbing, unhealthy relationship. The secondary characters were also very unappealing. The "love interests" in the novel were anything but interesting. The parents, friends and other various people really didn't play much of a part in redeeming to story to me, either. With the exception of Ruby being larger than life, every character was flat. Maybe if the characters were a little more fleshed out, I might have enjoyed the book more. Maybe.
The setting of the small town next to the mysterious reservoir had some serious potential, but I don't think it was used to it's full capacity. Really, the reservoir is the star attraction as far as the setting is concerned. Apparently there used to be a town where the reservoir now is, but it was destroyed long ago. Ruby tells Chloe a story about what happened, but with Ruby you never know what is fact and what is fiction. I would have liked to know what really happened and if any part of the myth Ruby told was actually true. Like I said, there was a lot of potential to develop the setting, but it too fell flat for me.
I guess one positive thing I can share about Imaginary Girls is that it was never predictable. There was a fair amount of suspense and I wasn't able to guess one single thing that was going to happen. I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time I was reading it. The bad side of that, however, is that even after finishing the novel, I still had no clue what the book was about. I had so many questions while I was reading and none of them were answered. Not a single one. Also, just when I thought the story was going to pick up, it fell flat and ended. The climax was so... it was so anticlimactic! It got my hopes up and then left me feeling very disappointed and deflated.
Imaginary girls was suspenseful and intriguing to a point, but I just didn't get it. I might not have enjoyed it much, but that's not to say nobody else will. I know there are heaps of people with rave reviews, but I'm sad to say I'm not one of them. The best advice I can give is to keep your mind wide open if and when you read this one and be prepared for an insane, surreal ride.
A favorite quote: "The story you choose to tell isn't always the story you believe."
Review as posted on my blog: Kaleidoscopic Reveries
It feels like some kind of distant fever dream but I just saw this cover and I'm pretty sure I've read this... I have absolutely no memory of this, so no rating but like.... This is some kind of echo of a memory lol. I think I may have forgotten it's existence.