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coelho_catarina's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
blurrypetals's review against another edition
4.0
I'm honestly struck speechless about this thing.
The moment I was alerted to the existence of this book, I was excited. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a masterclass in writing and I love his movies, expecially the film adaptations of Perks as well as R.J. Palacio's Wonder. This is all to say: if it has Stephen Chbosky's name on it, I'm in, no questions asked.
So, imagine my surprise, when wholesome dear Stephen Chbosky, after a 20 year break from novel writing, mades his sophomore outing a fucking horror novel.
I don't read a whole lot of horror. In fact, most anything I read would lean far more toward suspense or thriller rather than straight up horror like this. This book is meant to get your skin crawling, make you feel like something is watching you, and haunt you the whole time you're reading it. It is gross and vile and it ate away at me this whole week, bothering me at moments where I'd almost forgotten about it...and that's what makes it so good.
There is a part near the beginning that truly stayed with me and it is absolutely chilling each time I remember it. That's honestly how I'd describe this book: it's chilling. It's haunting and terrible, causing the reader just the right amount of confusion and frustration as this tome goes on and on, spiraling you and Christopher further into madness.
I'm hesitant to really talk about this book at length, because I think it's better to just plunge into it without knowing anything, but I will say, the only problems with this book are the resolution and the length and they play hand in hand. The final act of this book takes a very long time to fully play out and it became tiresome.
Other than that, this was a really compelling read that made my skin itch and now that we have this and Perks on Chbosky's resume, I truly have to say I have no idea where he could go next and I love that. Catch you next time, Chbosky; hopefully it won't take you another 20 years to do it all over again.
The moment I was alerted to the existence of this book, I was excited. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a masterclass in writing and I love his movies, expecially the film adaptations of Perks as well as R.J. Palacio's Wonder. This is all to say: if it has Stephen Chbosky's name on it, I'm in, no questions asked.
So, imagine my surprise, when wholesome dear Stephen Chbosky, after a 20 year break from novel writing, mades his sophomore outing a fucking horror novel.
I don't read a whole lot of horror. In fact, most anything I read would lean far more toward suspense or thriller rather than straight up horror like this. This book is meant to get your skin crawling, make you feel like something is watching you, and haunt you the whole time you're reading it. It is gross and vile and it ate away at me this whole week, bothering me at moments where I'd almost forgotten about it...and that's what makes it so good.
There is a part near the beginning that truly stayed with me and it is absolutely chilling each time I remember it. That's honestly how I'd describe this book: it's chilling. It's haunting and terrible, causing the reader just the right amount of confusion and frustration as this tome goes on and on, spiraling you and Christopher further into madness.
I'm hesitant to really talk about this book at length, because I think it's better to just plunge into it without knowing anything, but I will say, the only problems with this book are the resolution and the length and they play hand in hand. The final act of this book takes a very long time to fully play out and it became tiresome.
Other than that, this was a really compelling read that made my skin itch and now that we have this and Perks on Chbosky's resume, I truly have to say I have no idea where he could go next and I love that. Catch you next time, Chbosky; hopefully it won't take you another 20 years to do it all over again.
mmajer's review against another edition
4.0
3.5/5 stars
I had been meaning to pick this up sooner having loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I read it was pretty scary so I think I just needed get myself in the mood for it. (I actually didn’t find it scary at all aside from a few intense scenes/ descriptions!) Right out of the gate I could tell that Stephen King is Chbosky’s favorite author. Aside from it being a horror novel, it had a very similar style. Chbosky did a great job of creating a detailed setting and really crafting a lot of likable characters to root for.
I know a lot of people complained about the length of this one- I don’t have a problem with long novels... when appropriate. While it was quite “action-packed,” I felt like the last third really dragged. It seemed like it took forever to get to the conclusion and it got a little muddled and somewhat confusing for me at times. I think a few characters could have been easily eliminated without taking away from the story (other than the page count). Overall I liked this novel and I think it was a successful venture into a new genre for the author.
I had been meaning to pick this up sooner having loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I read it was pretty scary so I think I just needed get myself in the mood for it. (I actually didn’t find it scary at all aside from a few intense scenes/ descriptions!) Right out of the gate I could tell that Stephen King is Chbosky’s favorite author. Aside from it being a horror novel, it had a very similar style. Chbosky did a great job of creating a detailed setting and really crafting a lot of likable characters to root for.
I know a lot of people complained about the length of this one- I don’t have a problem with long novels... when appropriate. While it was quite “action-packed,” I felt like the last third really dragged. It seemed like it took forever to get to the conclusion and it got a little muddled and somewhat confusing for me at times. I think a few characters could have been easily eliminated without taking away from the story (other than the page count). Overall I liked this novel and I think it was a successful venture into a new genre for the author.
cgayler's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
heathi13's review against another edition
4.0
I do love a good vs evil story. I also love a thinly-veiled-as-Christian-doctrine good vs evil story. The Stand? The Lord of the Rings trilogy? The Dark Tower series? Some of my very favorite books ever. What I don't love is proselytzing, and having religion forced down my throat. I wish this had been marketed as a Catholic horror book (does such a genre even exist?) instead. I probably still would have read it, because interest piqued to see what that would be about, but at least I would have known what I was getting into. I had read other reviews stating that things took a turn for the worse around 70% through the book and as I went along, I thought, "what are these people talking about? This book is great!" and then I got to The Spot and I said "ah ha. Here we are. This is where it goes downhill".
The book is phenominally well written. The characters are amazing. Kate is a badass and we love to see Momma Bear badassery. But for the love of all that is holy, the Catholic doctrine being slammed down my throat was a bit much. I was transported right back to my childhood of CCD and Mary devotionals and rosary beads. The last 10% of the book was the worst, with the author straight out saying that we are all kept in our own personal hells by our own blindness and all we need to do to acheive salvation is open our eyes to the light of God. Blech blech blech. Listen, if that is your viewpoint, cool. You do you. But please, sir, keep your proselytizing out of my leisure time!!
This is getting four stars because I can't do half stars and the writing and the story were too good to give three. If the religious stuff was tampered down from a full boil to, say, a small simemr I would have given it 5.
The book is phenominally well written. The characters are amazing. Kate is a badass and we love to see Momma Bear badassery. But for the love of all that is holy, the Catholic doctrine being slammed down my throat was a bit much. I was transported right back to my childhood of CCD and Mary devotionals and rosary beads. The last 10% of the book was the worst, with the author straight out saying that we are all kept in our own personal hells by our own blindness and all we need to do to acheive salvation is open our eyes to the light of God. Blech blech blech. Listen, if that is your viewpoint, cool. You do you. But please, sir, keep your proselytizing out of my leisure time!!
This is getting four stars because I can't do half stars and the writing and the story were too good to give three. If the religious stuff was tampered down from a full boil to, say, a small simemr I would have given it 5.
fbc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
bookbeetlebabe's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault and Gun violence
Minor: Rape
lraronson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, and Torture
justinkhchen's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars
A head-spinning, intensely told horror allegory about faith and trauma.
Picked up this book blindly solely based on Kate's raving recommendation, as well as my own preference for the horror genre—and I can say confidently aside from a few nitpicks, the hype is well-deserved.
Just getting it out of the way: yes, I agree with a lot of readers regarding the depiction of 8-years olds in this book; their behaviors and dialogs are simply too mature to be anywhere close to age-appropriate. I can assume Stephen Chbosky specifically set this age range for dramatic reason, as there are many instances where the scenario becomes even more chilling, when they are performed to/by a kid rather than an early teen. They story did provide a plausible cause for this maturity, but I wish there was a more obvious switch when the 'contact' happened.
Imaginary Friend is like a runaway train, slowing adding speed until it's on the verge of derailment, but somehow still remaining on track. Just like the 'boiling frog' analogy constantly referenced in the story, it took its time scattering clues, and building an extensive cast of memorable characters, until its manic second half, where multiple story threads started to collide and converge in the most dumbfounding, shocking ways.
This relentless creativity turned out to be also this book's Achilles' heel: it simply doesn't know restraint; Imaginary Friend's story built up to a grand final confrontation, but reading it was exhausting due to its repeating false climax/resolution. While the individual scenes are still rendered with accomplished inventiveness, going through them consecutively is likes watching a bad slasher movie, where the killer just wouldn't stay dead (eye-roll).
A complex horror story with substance, Imaginary Friend's is about the inner demon, the skeleton in the closet, existing in all of us, and how it can be both a drive for success, or a bomb for destruction. While I wish the book is in the 500+ pages range, rather than 705, I am now forever scarred with imagery that will continue to show up in my nightmares.
A head-spinning, intensely told horror allegory about faith and trauma.
Picked up this book blindly solely based on Kate's raving recommendation, as well as my own preference for the horror genre—and I can say confidently aside from a few nitpicks, the hype is well-deserved.
Just getting it out of the way: yes, I agree with a lot of readers regarding the depiction of 8-years olds in this book; their behaviors and dialogs are simply too mature to be anywhere close to age-appropriate. I can assume Stephen Chbosky specifically set this age range for dramatic reason, as there are many instances where the scenario becomes even more chilling, when they are performed to/by a kid rather than an early teen. They story did provide a plausible cause for this maturity, but I wish there was a more obvious switch when the 'contact' happened.
Imaginary Friend is like a runaway train, slowing adding speed until it's on the verge of derailment, but somehow still remaining on track. Just like the 'boiling frog' analogy constantly referenced in the story, it took its time scattering clues, and building an extensive cast of memorable characters, until its manic second half, where multiple story threads started to collide and converge in the most dumbfounding, shocking ways.
This relentless creativity turned out to be also this book's Achilles' heel: it simply doesn't know restraint; Imaginary Friend's story built up to a grand final confrontation, but reading it was exhausting due to its repeating false climax/resolution. While the individual scenes are still rendered with accomplished inventiveness, going through them consecutively is likes watching a bad slasher movie, where the killer just wouldn't stay dead (eye-roll).
A complex horror story with substance, Imaginary Friend's is about the inner demon, the skeleton in the closet, existing in all of us, and how it can be both a drive for success, or a bomb for destruction. While I wish the book is in the 500+ pages range, rather than 705, I am now forever scarred with imagery that will continue to show up in my nightmares.
kathrynsjournal's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
450+ pages too long, repetitive, no clear plot…nor point.