Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

3 reviews

soyboi's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book is one big Jesus allegory and it sucks. It’s not subtle. I never read Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I guess I expected more from the author. Not one big Sunday school version of his personal heroic fantasies. “The Hissing Lady” aka Satan, but let’s make her a woman because women are the root of all evil I guess. “Don’t go off the street, or they’ll get you.” aka the Xtian path. The main character’s name is literally CHRISTopher. 
Also, it bugged me that all these other characters, like Brody and Jenny and the librarian, are the Hissing Lady’s henchmen toward the end because they’re LITERALLY BEING ABUSED. Like, Jenny is being molested by her brother and when she’s under the Hissing Lady’s power, she wants to punish the brother. But imo, the little fucker SHOULD be punished. Why are we making that Satanic? Sounds like justice to me. Anyway, I’m not a fan of being beaten over the head with bible stories. Gag me. 
This book was LONG AS HELL. So much of it us extraneous details and the same words and sentiments repeated over and over. 
The half star is for the narrator of the audiobook, who has a great voice and was able to give each character a little something different. Props to her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Torture, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Murder, and Physical abuse

sreilley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this so much. Is it long? Heck yes. Too long? Maybe. Worth every minute of it? Absolutely.

When the lines are crossed between reality and imagination, the lines of morality blur as well. 

The main character is a young boy, 8 years old, but with the soul and wisdom of generations. 

The small town in rural Pennsylvania finds itself plagued by a strange flu, terrifying thoughts, and a sudden span of time where nobody dies.

Christopher and the nice man come together to fight for good, but the fight isn't quite what Christopher expected...

Toward the end, I wished it would wrap up just a bit faster, but it was incredible and truly transformative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Cursing, Death, Incest, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Drug abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Death of parent

None of the content was too disturbing for me (and I'm really squeamish) but it might be for some.

eternalbutt's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Death, Gaslighting, War, Addiction, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Dementia, Rape, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Abandonment, Classism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Alcoholism, Confinement, Blood, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gun violence and Alcohol