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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
I did not like this book, but was very interested in the ending. Plot lines are left unresolved. I have so many questions about who or what the sisters were. I hated the characters, even the minor ones. I can't think of a single character who was likable, but because of the supernatural overtones, I wanted to find out what happened. I was disappointed.
This is one if the first books ever that I gave a 1 star review since Twilight. I think I actually hate this book. The writing in this nook is just SO DRAGGED OUT. I found myself skipping paragraphs just to find the point of what she was saying in the end. I really hated how Chloe worshipped Ruby as a god and it just got so overwhelming about how much she talked about her. Doesn't she have a life outside of Ruby? I really didn't understand this book and this is one of the first books that I actually couldn't finish.
I think the premise of this book was much more exciting and eerie than the book actually was. And of course, the cover is amazing looking, which also sucks you in. Overall, though, after thinking about the book, I just really didn't like the main characters. The older sister is supposed to be this amazing, awe-inspiring girl with a bordering-on-magical influence on everyone she meets. The younger sister looks up to her with an overwhelming hero worship attitude, and although this is sort of explained by the absence of their deadbeat parents, it didn't ring especially true to me. I felt the older sister was just a selfish jerk, and I couldn't get over that enough to really care about what happened to either sister. The supernatural aspects of the book provided some interest to make me want to keep reading, but not enough to make me overlook the flat depictions of the characters.
This book is written in a very interesting way. The story has a touch of the supernatural to it but doesn't make it obvious so you wonder if things are truly happening to Chloe as they seem to be. I both liked and disliked Ruby. She seemed to have a touch of the supernatural to her since things seemed to happen just because she willed them to. She used this ability for her own benefit though she was also extremely protective of Chloe. The bad thing? Ruby was arrogant, pushy, manipulative, and over-bearing.
The interaction between the sisters and Chloe finally breaking free of Ruby's influence makes for a compelling story. I think every woman has had that over-bearing sibling or friend at one point in their life and have felt like Chloe...both under their spell and longing to break free. The strange, creepy, paranormal, aspect to the story adds to this dynamic well. The way the story unfolds kept me interested and reading the book.
The interaction between the sisters and Chloe finally breaking free of Ruby's influence makes for a compelling story. I think every woman has had that over-bearing sibling or friend at one point in their life and have felt like Chloe...both under their spell and longing to break free. The strange, creepy, paranormal, aspect to the story adds to this dynamic well. The way the story unfolds kept me interested and reading the book.
Creepy and interesting, a story about the (sometimes damaging and suffocating) love of family. There were LOADS of unanswered questions when I finished this one, but I found I didn't mind too much. The book was much more about the power in this relationship than about all of the mysterious happenings.
Imaginary Girls is my favorite novel in which nothing at all happens. It is also my favorite novel that includes an entire cast of pretty unlikeable characters. Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement? It is.
I've had some trouble committing to books at the start of this year but Nova Ren Suma pulled me in and soon I was drowning in the spooky setting of this book. I wanted to know just what was going on in this ghost filled world. This isn't a mystery though, this novel is a member of the "magical realism" genre. If you're not familiar or keen on that sort of thing then this book won't be for you. Because truly, almost nothing happens. This isn't another action packed dystopia. You probably won't fall in love with the characters. What you'll find in this novel is something different than a lot of what is out there today. This story is quiet. It is slow. It feels a lot like sinking*. It's not a trilogy. It's not even a romance. It's love, ghosts and magic. A whole town of ghosts trapped forever beneath.
It's the story of two sisters who are obsessed with each other in a very unhealthy way. Loyal until death. Attached at the hip in an unhealthy way that makes you want to reach out and shake Chloe. Wake up, Chlo. Ruby is the Regina George of your world. She always gets what she wants and we're all left to wonder why. The writing in this novel is so beautiful though, that none of that even matters, and you feel like you are floating in the water of the reservoir yourself; filled with anxiety over what may just grab your ankles in the pages to come and pull you in.
Looking for something a little different from YA? Imaginary Girls is your story. Nova Ren Suma is a beautiful writer and I can't wait for her next book.
* I really just wanted to throw in as many bad water references as I could here. No shame. Plus it's true. This novel does feel like sinking, right?
Recommendation: Those who like magical realism and ghosts. Lovers of pretty prose. Anyone looking to get away from your usual YA romances. Those who don't mind developing irrational fears of reservoirs and balloons.
This review and other bad jokes at my blog: The Night Bookmobile
I've had some trouble committing to books at the start of this year but Nova Ren Suma pulled me in and soon I was drowning in the spooky setting of this book. I wanted to know just what was going on in this ghost filled world. This isn't a mystery though, this novel is a member of the "magical realism" genre. If you're not familiar or keen on that sort of thing then this book won't be for you. Because truly, almost nothing happens. This isn't another action packed dystopia. You probably won't fall in love with the characters. What you'll find in this novel is something different than a lot of what is out there today. This story is quiet. It is slow. It feels a lot like sinking*. It's not a trilogy. It's not even a romance. It's love, ghosts and magic. A whole town of ghosts trapped forever beneath.
It's the story of two sisters who are obsessed with each other in a very unhealthy way. Loyal until death. Attached at the hip in an unhealthy way that makes you want to reach out and shake Chloe. Wake up, Chlo. Ruby is the Regina George of your world. She always gets what she wants and we're all left to wonder why. The writing in this novel is so beautiful though, that none of that even matters, and you feel like you are floating in the water of the reservoir yourself; filled with anxiety over what may just grab your ankles in the pages to come and pull you in.
Looking for something a little different from YA? Imaginary Girls is your story. Nova Ren Suma is a beautiful writer and I can't wait for her next book.
* I really just wanted to throw in as many bad water references as I could here. No shame. Plus it's true. This novel does feel like sinking, right?
Recommendation: Those who like magical realism and ghosts. Lovers of pretty prose. Anyone looking to get away from your usual YA romances. Those who don't mind developing irrational fears of reservoirs and balloons.
This review and other bad jokes at my blog: The Night Bookmobile
Not sure how to rate this one. Strong writing! Weird AF story.
I really wanted to love this book. From the very first time I saw the cover on a blog I was hopping through and it grabbed me and I had to know what it was about. The description that they put on Amazon and GoodReads doesn’t really tell a lot about what it was about, so when it came out I got it the first chance I had and started reading it.
I know a lot of people have said this, but the whole book really did feel like a bad dream that you didn’t wake out of, but for me it might not have been for the same reason as the author might have intended.
In books, there is a line between relationships where one person has an intense instinct to protect the person they care about and for that person to be down right controlling. (In my opinion, it is the difference between Jace/Clary and Edward/Bella). And I recognize that that is sometimes a very fine line, but I felt like the line was crossed in this book, and Ruby was very controlling of Chloe. Throughout the whole book it felt strange, because it was more of Chloe witnessing what is happening than Chloe actually doing anything herself. She was more along for the ride, and I thought that was weird because the book is told through her perspective. In books, that controlling type of relationship is a real pet peeve of mine, so that was one of the books drawbacks for me.
Another was that most of the characters in the book are older teenagers, and it seemed that every chapter they were out partying somewhere, drinking, smoking joints in cemeteries, and though their were plenty of characters who hooked up, throughout the whole book there wasn’t even one healthy relationship that I could find. What’s worse was that all of this did not add a single thing to the plot of this book. It just felt completely unnecessary to me.
Another thing was that after two hundred pages of this illegal activity (which was maybe the author’s stab at showing how bored the kids in the small town were?) I still didn’t have a clear picture of what was going on, and that feeling remained to some extent all the way until the end of the book, which did in no way really wrap anything up for me. I suppose that that ties in with the bad dream piece of it, I don’t know what’s going on in a lot of my dreams, but for a book a conclusion, even one as simple as the main character waking up and finding it really was a dream would have been enough for me.
Having said that. I did like the writing. Some of the images were very dreamlike, and it wasn’t a boring book. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think I would have liked it a lot more without all the unnecessary drinking, smoking, and partying. If I had gone into it knowing it was going to be written like a long, drawn-out dream and not spent so long looking for where the plot was going, I would have given it another star or two.
I don’t want to discourage you from reading this book, I have read quite a few great reviews on it, but I feel like I have to be honest with my thoughts and so I have been. The cover most definitely gets a 5 from me though.
I know a lot of people have said this, but the whole book really did feel like a bad dream that you didn’t wake out of, but for me it might not have been for the same reason as the author might have intended.
In books, there is a line between relationships where one person has an intense instinct to protect the person they care about and for that person to be down right controlling. (In my opinion, it is the difference between Jace/Clary and Edward/Bella). And I recognize that that is sometimes a very fine line, but I felt like the line was crossed in this book, and Ruby was very controlling of Chloe. Throughout the whole book it felt strange, because it was more of Chloe witnessing what is happening than Chloe actually doing anything herself. She was more along for the ride, and I thought that was weird because the book is told through her perspective. In books, that controlling type of relationship is a real pet peeve of mine, so that was one of the books drawbacks for me.
Another was that most of the characters in the book are older teenagers, and it seemed that every chapter they were out partying somewhere, drinking, smoking joints in cemeteries, and though their were plenty of characters who hooked up, throughout the whole book there wasn’t even one healthy relationship that I could find. What’s worse was that all of this did not add a single thing to the plot of this book. It just felt completely unnecessary to me.
Another thing was that after two hundred pages of this illegal activity (which was maybe the author’s stab at showing how bored the kids in the small town were?) I still didn’t have a clear picture of what was going on, and that feeling remained to some extent all the way until the end of the book, which did in no way really wrap anything up for me. I suppose that that ties in with the bad dream piece of it, I don’t know what’s going on in a lot of my dreams, but for a book a conclusion, even one as simple as the main character waking up and finding it really was a dream would have been enough for me.
Having said that. I did like the writing. Some of the images were very dreamlike, and it wasn’t a boring book. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think I would have liked it a lot more without all the unnecessary drinking, smoking, and partying. If I had gone into it knowing it was going to be written like a long, drawn-out dream and not spent so long looking for where the plot was going, I would have given it another star or two.
I don’t want to discourage you from reading this book, I have read quite a few great reviews on it, but I feel like I have to be honest with my thoughts and so I have been. The cover most definitely gets a 5 from me though.
I wanted this book to be so much more because of the cover.
/shallowreview
I know that I like this book - it's not like a pop song, it takes time to understand why. I still need time to understand why I like it.
/shallowreview
I know that I like this book - it's not like a pop song, it takes time to understand why. I still need time to understand why I like it.
Why does everyone ever not understand the sheer majesty, beauty and magnificent wonder captured between these pages?!