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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
Imaginary Girls is a kind of story you don’t really encounter too often in YA books. Most people label it as a paranormal or supernatural book, but I think it’s closer to surrealism. Surrealism isn’t something YA authors write about very often so if you exclusively read YA, chances are you haven’t come across this type of story, but I really enjoy surreal stories so it was a pleasant surprise to run into it here. Be warned; surrealism isn’t for everyone. If you’ve never read surrealism, you’ll probably think such stories are just “weird” or “doesn’t make sense.” Some people seem to hate it, some seem to love it. Really depends on your cup of tea.
Imaginary Girls is mainly about two sisters named Ruby and Chloe. Chloe is the younger one, by five years, and the narrator of this story. These two sisters are incredibly close and will literally do anything for one another, though the relationship balance is not equal — Ruby thinks she knows what’s best for Chloe and dictates everything, whereas Chloe is in awe of her sister and will listen to everything Ruby says. The girls live in a small town by a reservoir that is out of bounds, but parties are frequently held there anyway by the teenagers of the town.
The story opens up with one such party, where Ruby brags that her little sister is such a great swimmer, she can swim across the reservoir. Chloe, being obedient, attempts the swim but runs into a floating rowboat with the dead body of a girl named London, a girl she knows from her class. Flash forward, Chloe is living with her dad (the girls have different fathers) away from town, but Ruby forces Chloe to come back and live with her, acting like London never died. When Chloe returns to the small town with Ruby, she finds everything very peculiar. London is, indeed, alive, and what’s more, Ruby has some strange way of making everyone in town do exactly as she says.
I quite enjoyed this book. The writing is really great and the dialogue felt real and not cheesy. As I said, I do like surrealism so I had no problem slipping into the story. Like Chloe, I was tossed into a dream-like world where I wasn’t sure if what was happening was REALLY happening or not. I felt a bit haunted while reading this book. You know something is not quite right, it’s almost like there’s an element of creepiness. I wasn’t sure if there really was some super powers happening here, or ghosts or what, but it was about halfway through the book that I decided that this was a surrealistic story. I guess you can say “magical realism” too, which would be another label if you like labels.
Then there’s Chloe and Ruby’s relationship, which is the big focus in this novel. Ruby is someone the entire town practically worships. She gets her way with everything and all the boys want to date her. Chloe, too, looks up to her sister, obsessed with her as much as Ruby is obsessed with herself, but with her return to town, she senses that it’s strange how everyone just does whatever Ruby says. Ruby’s not exactly a kind person. She’s self-centered to the extreme and acts like the entire world was created for her and her sister. Chloe is the only person Ruby cares about. It’s an interesting relationship where Chloe is the only person who has potential to “control” Ruby, but she doesn’t. Ruby has everyone under her spell. Ironically, because I’m a third party looking into the story from the outside, I didn’t really like Ruby. Brilliantly written characters with great dialogue, but if I met Ruby in real life, I wouldn’t like her one bit, haha. Chloe is a bit of a doormat and doesn’t seem to have much of a personality, which sounds like a bad thing, but works great in this book because she’s always in Ruby’s shadow so it makes perfect sense.
This is a character-driven book so there isn’t a whole lot of plot per se, so some readers may find the book slow moving. But the relationship of Chloe and Ruby, or even just Ruby, is so fascinating to read the pages do seem to fly by. Slowly, you realize Ruby is just a messed up person and super manipulative. Slowly, you realize your narrator isn’t really any better than Ruby, she’s just a less intense version of her. Sometimes I doubted whether Chloe was a reliable narrator or not and it made me question a lot of the events in the book. There are so many times where I thought, “Is this really happening? Or is someone going to wake up and say it was all a dream?”
This is without a doubt a brilliantly written book and if you enjoy surreal fiction, you definitely want to check out Imaginary Girls.
Imaginary Girls is mainly about two sisters named Ruby and Chloe. Chloe is the younger one, by five years, and the narrator of this story. These two sisters are incredibly close and will literally do anything for one another, though the relationship balance is not equal — Ruby thinks she knows what’s best for Chloe and dictates everything, whereas Chloe is in awe of her sister and will listen to everything Ruby says. The girls live in a small town by a reservoir that is out of bounds, but parties are frequently held there anyway by the teenagers of the town.
The story opens up with one such party, where Ruby brags that her little sister is such a great swimmer, she can swim across the reservoir. Chloe, being obedient, attempts the swim but runs into a floating rowboat with the dead body of a girl named London, a girl she knows from her class. Flash forward, Chloe is living with her dad (the girls have different fathers) away from town, but Ruby forces Chloe to come back and live with her, acting like London never died. When Chloe returns to the small town with Ruby, she finds everything very peculiar. London is, indeed, alive, and what’s more, Ruby has some strange way of making everyone in town do exactly as she says.
I quite enjoyed this book. The writing is really great and the dialogue felt real and not cheesy. As I said, I do like surrealism so I had no problem slipping into the story. Like Chloe, I was tossed into a dream-like world where I wasn’t sure if what was happening was REALLY happening or not. I felt a bit haunted while reading this book. You know something is not quite right, it’s almost like there’s an element of creepiness. I wasn’t sure if there really was some super powers happening here, or ghosts or what, but it was about halfway through the book that I decided that this was a surrealistic story. I guess you can say “magical realism” too, which would be another label if you like labels.
Then there’s Chloe and Ruby’s relationship, which is the big focus in this novel. Ruby is someone the entire town practically worships. She gets her way with everything and all the boys want to date her. Chloe, too, looks up to her sister, obsessed with her as much as Ruby is obsessed with herself, but with her return to town, she senses that it’s strange how everyone just does whatever Ruby says. Ruby’s not exactly a kind person. She’s self-centered to the extreme and acts like the entire world was created for her and her sister. Chloe is the only person Ruby cares about. It’s an interesting relationship where Chloe is the only person who has potential to “control” Ruby, but she doesn’t. Ruby has everyone under her spell. Ironically, because I’m a third party looking into the story from the outside, I didn’t really like Ruby. Brilliantly written characters with great dialogue, but if I met Ruby in real life, I wouldn’t like her one bit, haha. Chloe is a bit of a doormat and doesn’t seem to have much of a personality, which sounds like a bad thing, but works great in this book because she’s always in Ruby’s shadow so it makes perfect sense.
This is a character-driven book so there isn’t a whole lot of plot per se, so some readers may find the book slow moving. But the relationship of Chloe and Ruby, or even just Ruby, is so fascinating to read the pages do seem to fly by. Slowly, you realize Ruby is just a messed up person and super manipulative. Slowly, you realize your narrator isn’t really any better than Ruby, she’s just a less intense version of her. Sometimes I doubted whether Chloe was a reliable narrator or not and it made me question a lot of the events in the book. There are so many times where I thought, “Is this really happening? Or is someone going to wake up and say it was all a dream?”
This is without a doubt a brilliantly written book and if you enjoy surreal fiction, you definitely want to check out Imaginary Girls.
Thought I’d love this but ended up being not for me! Full review here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR4MmSwg/
Made it just over halfway through this book and still feel absolutely no connection to what's happening or no pull to keep reading. The writing style is very slow and drawn out and my mind kept wandering while waiting for the narrator to get to the point. I get it - your sister is awesome and you worship her and everything she does/said. Can we get on with the story now?
"...down in what was once Olive, you could still find the townspeople who never left. They looked up into their murky sky, waiting to catch sight of our boat bottoms and our fishing lines, counting our trespassing feet."
Ruby and Chloe are sisters that live in upstate New York together. Their mother is forever absent and the two have learned to only rely on one another. The town they live in is located near a massive reservoir that is reported to have submerged a town called Olive, and older sister Ruby tells the story of the town as if the people are still down there living their daily lives. One night at a party taking place at the reservoir, Ruby boasts that her sister could swim across the reservoir and if so inclined even go down and get a souvenir from Olive. The only thing she brings back from her swim is a lone rowboat in the middle of the reservoir where the body of a dead girl lies.
After the rowboat incident, Chloe moves to Pennsylvania to live with her dad and step-mother, leaving Ruby behind. A random text every now and then is the only communication Chloe has with her sister, but two years go by and her sister has appeared suddenly in town to coerce her to return, insisting that things are back to normal. Chloe does return and finds that things are in fact back to the way they were, but they aren’t truly. Something eerie and mysterious is at work and Chloe knows that Ruby’s the reason for it all. The strange stories her sister tells about the town of Olive, and of the reservoir, and of the dead girl named London are all connected somehow and Chloe’s curiosity is overpowering. She trusts her sister implicitly despite the strangeness that her hometown now exudes.
Imaginary Girls is a mesmerizing tale that will leave you contemplating the magic that threads itself through this novel. It’s a strangely horrific tale with a subtle delivery causing the eeriness to come upon you slowly. The story of the town of Olive and the people that still live down there. Imagining their eyes following you as you swim in the reservoir. Ruby’s enthralling power and influence she holds over the town and its inhabitants is intriguing until she begins to take it too far.
Suma’s writing will captivate you with its skillful blend of magical realism but the focal point of the story, the unbreakable bond between two sisters, makes a powerful statement.
Ruby and Chloe are sisters that live in upstate New York together. Their mother is forever absent and the two have learned to only rely on one another. The town they live in is located near a massive reservoir that is reported to have submerged a town called Olive, and older sister Ruby tells the story of the town as if the people are still down there living their daily lives. One night at a party taking place at the reservoir, Ruby boasts that her sister could swim across the reservoir and if so inclined even go down and get a souvenir from Olive. The only thing she brings back from her swim is a lone rowboat in the middle of the reservoir where the body of a dead girl lies.
After the rowboat incident, Chloe moves to Pennsylvania to live with her dad and step-mother, leaving Ruby behind. A random text every now and then is the only communication Chloe has with her sister, but two years go by and her sister has appeared suddenly in town to coerce her to return, insisting that things are back to normal. Chloe does return and finds that things are in fact back to the way they were, but they aren’t truly. Something eerie and mysterious is at work and Chloe knows that Ruby’s the reason for it all. The strange stories her sister tells about the town of Olive, and of the reservoir, and of the dead girl named London are all connected somehow and Chloe’s curiosity is overpowering. She trusts her sister implicitly despite the strangeness that her hometown now exudes.
Imaginary Girls is a mesmerizing tale that will leave you contemplating the magic that threads itself through this novel. It’s a strangely horrific tale with a subtle delivery causing the eeriness to come upon you slowly. The story of the town of Olive and the people that still live down there. Imagining their eyes following you as you swim in the reservoir. Ruby’s enthralling power and influence she holds over the town and its inhabitants is intriguing until she begins to take it too far.
Suma’s writing will captivate you with its skillful blend of magical realism but the focal point of the story, the unbreakable bond between two sisters, makes a powerful statement.
This book confused the heck out of me. I wasn't really expecting such a supernatural story and I spent most of the novel being perplexed and annoyed.
Probably one of the strangest books I've ever read. Slightly haunting, mostly confusing, kind of creepy.
Chloe is completely captivated with her older sister. Most people are. Everyone seems entranced by Ruby. The only person Ruby cares about completely is Chloe. One night, Ruby taunts a crowd at a party into believing that Chloe can easily swim the width of a two-mile reservoir. Along the swim, Chloe comes face to face with a boat, in which a dead girl lies. Immediately after this night, Chloe flees New York and goes to live with her Dad for two years in Pennsylvania. Ruby comes to take Chloe back to NY; the remainder of the book is about Chloe understanding and remembering what really happened the night she found the dead girl. She finds out the truth about her sister Ruby as well.
There were several things I wish I had answers to after finishing the book (Don't read below if you intend to read this book. This may spoil some things for you):
-What exactly was Ruby? How could she control everything? How in the world did she bring London and Chloe back from the dead?
-Why did Chloe ever flee to go live with her father? Did something other than seeing the dead body in the boat freak her out? I just didn't quite believe that she would have wanted to leave Ruby as much as she idolized her big sister.
Chloe is completely captivated with her older sister. Most people are. Everyone seems entranced by Ruby. The only person Ruby cares about completely is Chloe. One night, Ruby taunts a crowd at a party into believing that Chloe can easily swim the width of a two-mile reservoir. Along the swim, Chloe comes face to face with a boat, in which a dead girl lies. Immediately after this night, Chloe flees New York and goes to live with her Dad for two years in Pennsylvania. Ruby comes to take Chloe back to NY; the remainder of the book is about Chloe understanding and remembering what really happened the night she found the dead girl. She finds out the truth about her sister Ruby as well.
There were several things I wish I had answers to after finishing the book (Don't read below if you intend to read this book. This may spoil some things for you):
-What exactly was Ruby? How could she control everything? How in the world did she bring London and Chloe back from the dead?
-Why did Chloe ever flee to go live with her father? Did something other than seeing the dead body in the boat freak her out? I just didn't quite believe that she would have wanted to leave Ruby as much as she idolized her big sister.
This book will forever be my favorite. It is magic and delirium—dreams with legs, which seem more like nightmares when you see them in the light like that. I could read this book a hundred times and find a new layer to it every one of them. There are so many things happening and so many things that could have happened, all wrapped up in Nova's beautiful, dark, enigmatic prose. Her sentence structure mirrors the imagery which mirrors the action which mirrors the atmosphere. Layer, layer, layer, layer.
Also it's a book about sisters with a bond like no other; sisters who would kill for each other, sisters who would resurrect for each other. And, like Ruby, that's my favorite kind of story: "where the boys lost and the girls won and got a souvenir in the bargain."
Also, also: the freaking balLOONS. That is my favorite motif in this novel, and possibly ever.
Also it's a book about sisters with a bond like no other; sisters who would kill for each other, sisters who would resurrect for each other. And, like Ruby, that's my favorite kind of story: "where the boys lost and the girls won and got a souvenir in the bargain."
Also, also: the freaking balLOONS. That is my favorite motif in this novel, and possibly ever.
3.5.
First of all, I did not particularly like this book, nor did I actively dislike it. The most I can say is that I was intrigued and puzzled by it. I kept having to take breaks while reading. I still don't fully understand it or, especially, its characters, but I suppose that was the author's intention (even the title of the book suggests surrealism). I'll be looking out for other books by Nova Ren Suma.
First of all, I did not particularly like this book, nor did I actively dislike it. The most I can say is that I was intrigued and puzzled by it. I kept having to take breaks while reading. I still don't fully understand it or, especially, its characters, but I suppose that was the author's intention (even the title of the book suggests surrealism). I'll be looking out for other books by Nova Ren Suma.
I'm going to have to try this one again sometime. I've been trying for weeks to get into it but I just can't make it past the first 100 pages right now.
Hmmmm. This book worked on me two ways. It was beautifully written, poetic and oh so creepy. I don't usually like creepy, and I almost stopped several times, but kept reading because of the writing style and because I wanted to find out what was really going on. And, I also wanted Ruby to get her come uppance. She's one messed up chick! Ultimately, my curiousity won out and I finished the book. Its haunting and disturbing, and I think I liked it..