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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
This book made me feel like I was having a conversation in which I only understood every other word the person was saying, the story was there, the tone was there, the imagery was there, but it never connected.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Right. Where do I start with this one?
To begin with you have to gather all your cop on and common sense, stuff it into an old rucksack, fill it with rocks and throw it in to a lake. Because you are about to read some freaky creepy happenings.
Our main character is Chloe. When we first meet her she is hanging out with her older sister Ruby and a group of Ruby's friends at the local reservoir. Ruby has a way with people and story telling and enjoys creating high impact stories to relay to her friends. Ruby proclaims that Chloe is an extremely talented swimmer and wants to create a story for her friends. In the midst of completing a dare to swim across the reservoir Chloe stumbles across a disturbing discovery. A girl from school named London is laying dead in a boat within the reservoir.
2 years have passed by. Chloe is living away from Ruby with her stepfather. Unexpectedly Ruby comes back into Chloes life and provides her the means to get back home. As Chloe gets back home and bumps into her former friends and acquaintances all seems to be as it was before she left. Until she comes face to face with London at a party. Yes. The London. The dead in the boat London. Everyone acts like everything is normal and that Chloe is being the odd one out. Nobody questions Londons existence.
As time goes by parts of the story unravels and the reader- along with Chloe -discover the real Ruby. However Chloe doesnt want to believe the new evidence. She idolizes Ruby and sees no fault. She adores her sister for looking out for her and raising her. She cant put aside these feelings to question Rubys relationships, her lies and her link to Londons death and reappearance.
In the end when everything is out in the open only one sister survives.
Okay, this book was way odd, weird, macabre, strange, creepy.... gave me nightmares after I finished reading it.
I didn't necessarily like the book, mostly because I didn't like either sister for a multitude of reasons. However it was well written, highly descriptive, tense and mysterious.
To begin with you have to gather all your cop on and common sense, stuff it into an old rucksack, fill it with rocks and throw it in to a lake. Because you are about to read some freaky creepy happenings.
Our main character is Chloe. When we first meet her she is hanging out with her older sister Ruby and a group of Ruby's friends at the local reservoir. Ruby has a way with people and story telling and enjoys creating high impact stories to relay to her friends. Ruby proclaims that Chloe is an extremely talented swimmer and wants to create a story for her friends. In the midst of completing a dare to swim across the reservoir Chloe stumbles across a disturbing discovery. A girl from school named London is laying dead in a boat within the reservoir.
2 years have passed by. Chloe is living away from Ruby with her stepfather. Unexpectedly Ruby comes back into Chloes life and provides her the means to get back home. As Chloe gets back home and bumps into her former friends and acquaintances all seems to be as it was before she left. Until she comes face to face with London at a party. Yes. The London. The dead in the boat London. Everyone acts like everything is normal and that Chloe is being the odd one out. Nobody questions Londons existence.
As time goes by parts of the story unravels and the reader- along with Chloe -discover the real Ruby. However Chloe doesnt want to believe the new evidence. She idolizes Ruby and sees no fault. She adores her sister for looking out for her and raising her. She cant put aside these feelings to question Rubys relationships, her lies and her link to Londons death and reappearance.
In the end when everything is out in the open only one sister survives.
Okay, this book was way odd, weird, macabre, strange, creepy.... gave me nightmares after I finished reading it.
I didn't necessarily like the book, mostly because I didn't like either sister for a multitude of reasons. However it was well written, highly descriptive, tense and mysterious.
Chloe's older sister, Ruby, has the entire town wrapped around her finger. The sisters are very close and the relationship between them is bordering on obsession. In chloe's mind, she can become anything her sister says she can. the reservoir covers 9 towns including the town Olive, whose people refused to give up their land and were drowned with the town, fabled to adapt to living under water. One night at the reservoir, Chloe is swimming and comes across a body, floating in a rowboat. Traumatized by seeing her classmate floating dead over Olive, Chloe moves away from her sister for a couple years. One day, Ruby shows up to take possession of Chloe again and bring her back to her town. Ruby had worked hard to have everything back to the way I was two years ago, like nothin had ever changed.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The story is interesting, although it felt a little unfinished to me. Ruby is kind of awful, and I think it would have been nice to see her a little more well-rounded as a person. Chloe feels younger than 16, which is sort of to be expected. I don't know how many 16-year-olds idolize their big sisters that much.
I read it quickly, and I was curious to see how everything turned out. It's not wrapped up in a pretty little bow, and I appreciate that.
I read it quickly, and I was curious to see how everything turned out. It's not wrapped up in a pretty little bow, and I appreciate that.
Another book off the kids' high school reading list that makes me glad I'm no longer in school. Not exactly an engaging story, but I finished it.
This is my second book by Nova Ren Suma, and I’m more enthralled with her writing than ever. While I didn’t love Imaginary Girls as much as the first book I’ve read by Suma, her upcoming The Walls Around Us, I still found myself completely drawn into the story. Suma has the way of writing that makes her words feel weightless. It’s often no trouble for me to distance myself from the act of reading and there’s a cadence in the story that makes me feel like it’s being told to me, rather than being read by me. Imaginary Girls felt that way from the very beginning.
Imaginary Girls tells the story of two sisters: Ruby, the oldest, and Chloe. Ruby’s the type of person who’s instantly charming and charismatic. She can get anyone to do anything she wants and weaves a spell everywhere she goes. Chloe, the main character, looks up to Ruby and is just as mesmerized by her as everyone else in their tiny town. But one day Chloe finds a body in the town reservoir, and she’s sent away to live with her dad.
Then, two years later, Ruby comes to get her. . . and as Chloe goes back to town, she sees London, the girl she found in the reservoir, alive and breathing. Chloe knows that something’s going on, but she struggles to get to the bottom of it. She’s in over her head and the truth might drown her.
This twisted tale of three girls is mesmerizing. I had a good inkling of what had happened right away, but that made it no less eerie to join Chloe on her journey for the truth. There’s a haunting quality to Imaginary Girls, often subtle and occasionally spooky, though not frightening. In every sense, Imaginary Girls is a ghost story, but not only about the people who have died. Chloe’s ghost of her past in this case seems to be quite literal, but there’s also the ghost of the truth that’s following her. Chloe struggles to put the pieces together of what happened one summer all the while Ruby seems to weave an enchantment around everyone.
Despite my love for Suma’s storytelling, there was a sense of something lacking in Imaginary Girls. Perhaps because the book so laser-focused on Ruby, there seemed to be less development of any of the other characters, including Chloe. My grasp on her character was slippery at best, and it made it difficult to lose myself in the story. Something about Imaginary Girls just seemed off, and not in the deliberate way.
That being said, I enjoyed slipping into the story of Imaginary Girls. While not my favorite by Nova Ren Suma, it did solidify my love for her writing style and prose, and I know I’ll be reading more of her books in the future. The story of Imaginary Girls might not stay with me long after reading, but the writing will.
This review originally appeared on Book.Blog.Bake.
Imaginary Girls tells the story of two sisters: Ruby, the oldest, and Chloe. Ruby’s the type of person who’s instantly charming and charismatic. She can get anyone to do anything she wants and weaves a spell everywhere she goes. Chloe, the main character, looks up to Ruby and is just as mesmerized by her as everyone else in their tiny town. But one day Chloe finds a body in the town reservoir, and she’s sent away to live with her dad.
Then, two years later, Ruby comes to get her. . . and as Chloe goes back to town, she sees London, the girl she found in the reservoir, alive and breathing. Chloe knows that something’s going on, but she struggles to get to the bottom of it. She’s in over her head and the truth might drown her.
This twisted tale of three girls is mesmerizing. I had a good inkling of what had happened right away, but that made it no less eerie to join Chloe on her journey for the truth. There’s a haunting quality to Imaginary Girls, often subtle and occasionally spooky, though not frightening. In every sense, Imaginary Girls is a ghost story, but not only about the people who have died. Chloe’s ghost of her past in this case seems to be quite literal, but there’s also the ghost of the truth that’s following her. Chloe struggles to put the pieces together of what happened one summer all the while Ruby seems to weave an enchantment around everyone.
Despite my love for Suma’s storytelling, there was a sense of something lacking in Imaginary Girls. Perhaps because the book so laser-focused on Ruby, there seemed to be less development of any of the other characters, including Chloe. My grasp on her character was slippery at best, and it made it difficult to lose myself in the story. Something about Imaginary Girls just seemed off, and not in the deliberate way.
That being said, I enjoyed slipping into the story of Imaginary Girls. While not my favorite by Nova Ren Suma, it did solidify my love for her writing style and prose, and I know I’ll be reading more of her books in the future. The story of Imaginary Girls might not stay with me long after reading, but the writing will.
This review originally appeared on Book.Blog.Bake.
I wanted to love this book.
I really enjoy unreliable narrators and the gradual realization that things are not as they seem. I love the buildup of mystery, trying to discern what’s real and what isn’t based on what you know of the protagonist. And yet… I couldn’t love Imaginary Girls.
Maybe that’s because I spent the entire book waiting for a reveal that never came. There was never a time I was given any grounding reality that I was sure was actually happening. The closest we get is the page long phone call from that seems to be the real world knocking on Chloe’s door but it quickly disappears never to be seen again. By the end of the book I was sure of only 2 things:
2) More than likely 1-3 of the girls died.
Beyond that I can’t tell you who died, how they died, or when they died and that’s a little disconcerting. Overall I liked the story and the details into Ruby and Chloe’s lives but the lack of solid reality locked me out of enjoying it fully. Your results may vary.
I really enjoy unreliable narrators and the gradual realization that things are not as they seem. I love the buildup of mystery, trying to discern what’s real and what isn’t based on what you know of the protagonist. And yet… I couldn’t love Imaginary Girls.
Maybe that’s because I spent the entire book waiting for a reveal that never came. There was never a time I was given any grounding reality that I was sure was actually happening. The closest we get is the page long phone call from
Spoiler
homeSpoiler
1) There were 3 girls the story focused around.2) More than likely 1-3 of the girls died.
Beyond that I can’t tell you who died, how they died, or when they died and that’s a little disconcerting.
I wanted to like this book, and there were flashes of brilliance, but overall I found it annoying, unsatisfying and incomplete.
Book Sluts, do not read further unless you have finished the book!
If this had not been a book club selection, I would have tossed it by chapter 4. That would have been unfortunate, because the best moments come later. Like this passage from Chapter 11:
"I knew that Ruby, my own sister--she'd done this.
When something big happens, you don't immediately point the finger at one person. A bridge collapses, and maybe that's what people call an act of God, not of the little girl in the backseat of a passing car wishing something would happen to keep her from having to stay the weekend with her creepy uncle. A plane loses its propellers and crash-lands on water, and no one blames the guy sitting in 13B who can't get a date and wants to die over it and doesn't care if he takes the whole damn plan with him.
No human being could take credit for changing fate.
Except for Ruby."
And in Chapter 14, when Ruby practices her own brand of self-help by writing commands on balloons and releasing them. When the folks in her town come across messages such as "bring me a milkshake" and "call me at midnight and tell me you love me," they do it. Ruby is selfish and self-centered. Even her protection of her sister Chloe seems motivated by selfishness -- she desperately needs someone who loves her for who she is.
I enjoyed the magical realism, but it was too unformed, too inconsequential to keep my interest. There wasn't much of a plot, and the characters seemed vague and hazy like that bit of a dream that's fading before you can remember the details. I didn't have sympathy for any of the characters. If I was rooting for anyone, it was the poor drowned denizens of Olive. I wanted them to drag either Chloe or Ruby away so the book would end and I could get on to something else.
Book Sluts, do not read further unless you have finished the book!
If this had not been a book club selection, I would have tossed it by chapter 4. That would have been unfortunate, because the best moments come later. Like this passage from Chapter 11:
"I knew that Ruby, my own sister--she'd done this.
When something big happens, you don't immediately point the finger at one person. A bridge collapses, and maybe that's what people call an act of God, not of the little girl in the backseat of a passing car wishing something would happen to keep her from having to stay the weekend with her creepy uncle. A plane loses its propellers and crash-lands on water, and no one blames the guy sitting in 13B who can't get a date and wants to die over it and doesn't care if he takes the whole damn plan with him.
No human being could take credit for changing fate.
Except for Ruby."
And in Chapter 14, when Ruby practices her own brand of self-help by writing commands on balloons and releasing them. When the folks in her town come across messages such as "bring me a milkshake" and "call me at midnight and tell me you love me," they do it. Ruby is selfish and self-centered. Even her protection of her sister Chloe seems motivated by selfishness -- she desperately needs someone who loves her for who she is.
I enjoyed the magical realism, but it was too unformed, too inconsequential to keep my interest. There wasn't much of a plot, and the characters seemed vague and hazy like that bit of a dream that's fading before you can remember the details. I didn't have sympathy for any of the characters. If I was rooting for anyone, it was the poor drowned denizens of Olive. I wanted them to drag either Chloe or Ruby away so the book would end and I could get on to something else.
I hate these sister. Such bitches.
I loved the first chapter, then the book went downhill after. The only thing that saved it was teh audio book narrator.
I loved the first chapter, then the book went downhill after. The only thing that saved it was teh audio book narrator.