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mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Gore, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Ableism, Infidelity, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit
tlanereads's review
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Really enjoyed this book
Not a 5 star because there were moments throughout where I was like, "hot dang I'm only x of the way through???"--several points where it felt like the climax only to realize I was only a quarter of the way in. Kind of slow BUT everything in it was soooooo good; it was long but none of it felt irrelevant or unnecessary.
I loved the characters in this, even the antagonists were fascinating because they were nuanced and motivated by their own personal traumas.
So well done and captivating
Not a 5 star because there were moments throughout where I was like, "hot dang I'm only x of the way through???"--several points where it felt like the climax only to realize I was only a quarter of the way in. Kind of slow BUT everything in it was soooooo good; it was long but none of it felt irrelevant or unnecessary.
I loved the characters in this, even the antagonists were fascinating because they were nuanced and motivated by their own personal traumas.
So well done and captivating
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
Lots of dark themes for background characters; not graphic detail but mentionedcamillesuzannes's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Medical content, Cursing, Dementia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Grief, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
Moderate: Ableism, Trafficking, Sexual content, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Incest, Kidnapping, and Sexism
Minor: Vomit, Pedophilia, and Slavery
house_of_hannah's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Wow, where do I even start after that ? This book gets right into the story, and just does not stop ! This completely blew away my expectations, and is immediately going on my favorites list.
So this story is divided into seven parts, 135 chapters, and an epilogue. Yeah, I know. This means that the chapters are pretty short though, which really helps with the book not feeling as long as it is. My main fear going into it was that the story would be slow, or drag in the middle. It never dragged for me until the last 100 pages though, so I do wish the author had cut the story to be a little shorter.
it did feel like this could have ended at several different points. I had some moments where it felt like we were heading to the climax....but there were still 400+ pages left. It made me curious to see how this story could keep going without feeling bogged down, and it really surprised me how the stakes kept rising. I ended up really getting into the story, and binged the last 300 pages all today.
I had heard or read that this is a religious horror, but that doesn't really kick in until about half way through the book. I had actually thought I had been mistaken about that until I hit that point, but it ends up really pushing into it, so I'd stear clear if that type of horror isn't your thing.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that the adults are not complete idiots. I hate when a story makes the adults to be oblivious fools who can't see what's directly in front of them for the sake of the plot, so this book was a breath of fresh air. I also ended up liking the entire cast of characters even though there are a lot of them. The author does a fantastic job of humanizing them, so it's easy to connect with the town.
One thing that stood out to me, and I've noticed other reviewers have mentioned this as well, is that the children did not feel as if they were 7 years old. I often forgot that this is what their age was supposed to be, and imagined them as more 11-12 years old. Whenever their age was reiterated it just made me laugh, because there is just no way.
This story does get completely ridiculous, and sometimes it is laughably so. I pondered if I should lower the rating at all for that, but honestly I've enjoyed this book so much that I don't think I should.
I adored coming up with theories for what was happening in this book. There were so many moments where I gasped at the end of a chapter, and then read what had happened to my husband. I think this is a fantastic horror novel that any fan of the genre should read !
So this story is divided into seven parts, 135 chapters, and an epilogue. Yeah, I know. This means that the chapters are pretty short though, which really helps with the book not feeling as long as it is. My main fear going into it was that the story would be slow, or drag in the middle. It never dragged for me until the last 100 pages though, so I do wish the author had cut the story to be a little shorter.
it did feel like this could have ended at several different points. I had some moments where it felt like we were heading to the climax....but there were still 400+ pages left. It made me curious to see how this story could keep going without feeling bogged down, and it really surprised me how the stakes kept rising. I ended up really getting into the story, and binged the last 300 pages all today.
I had heard or read that this is a religious horror, but that doesn't really kick in until about half way through the book. I had actually thought I had been mistaken about that until I hit that point, but it ends up really pushing into it, so I'd stear clear if that type of horror isn't your thing.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that the adults are not complete idiots. I hate when a story makes the adults to be oblivious fools who can't see what's directly in front of them for the sake of the plot, so this book was a breath of fresh air. I also ended up liking the entire cast of characters even though there are a lot of them. The author does a fantastic job of humanizing them, so it's easy to connect with the town.
One thing that stood out to me, and I've noticed other reviewers have mentioned this as well, is that the children did not feel as if they were 7 years old. I often forgot that this is what their age was supposed to be, and imagined them as more 11-12 years old. Whenever their age was reiterated it just made me laugh, because there is just no way.
This story does get completely ridiculous, and sometimes it is laughably so. I pondered if I should lower the rating at all for that, but honestly I've enjoyed this book so much that I don't think I should.
I adored coming up with theories for what was happening in this book. There were so many moments where I gasped at the end of a chapter, and then read what had happened to my husband. I think this is a fantastic horror novel that any fan of the genre should read !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, Blood, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Addiction and Dementia
Minor: Abortion, Vomit, and Pregnancy
hollykat's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
bookishrealm's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I may be in the minority with this rating, BUT I really enjoyed this book! Possible trigger warnings include rape, violence against minors, violence, abuse - in many forms, bullying, mistreatment of the eldery, strong language
Prior to reading Imaginary Friend I had heard so many bad reviews. One of the major criticisms is that the book changes writing style and intent partway through book. So, going into this book I expected that aspect to be a make or break. Surprsingly, it didn't bother me in the same way that it bothered a lot of people. I've heard this readily compared to King. I really haven't read much of Stephen King to have any sort of comparison; however, if you like horror that reads almost like literary horror I think you might actually enjoy this.
Imaginary Friend focuses on seven year old Christopher and his mother as they move to a small town to escape an abusive relationship. While in the small town Christopher goes missing for six days. Prior to his vanishing, Christopher struggled with a lot of things including reading. When he reappears after vanishing he seemingly improves at everything and even has some abilities that people would deem supernatural. I won't lie and say that I didn't have a ton of theories as to why Christopher was this "new and improved" child. A huge part of me thought it was deeply related to an alien invasion. I was so wrong. While I can't go into the details related to why things were happening the way that they were, I can wholeheartedly state that this book is atmospheric and CREEPY. And when I say creepy I mean I would jump if I heard a noise in my own apartment while listening to the audiobook. There was this obsession that impacts Christopher that literally made me feel overwhelmed and anxious. And the way that the town was impacted made my skin crawl. I haven't read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Chbosky, but I can tell from this work alone that he is a masterful writer that is capable of engaging his audience with every word, sentence, paragraph, and page. I parallelled my obsession with this book to Chirstophers and found myself itching to read more and more when I had any free moment. Nevertheless, even with the level of engagement that I had with this book I will say that I competely and totally understand why it has been rated so lowly.
Imaginary Friend, in more ways than one, feels like two different books. Chbosky has a certain style and intent in the first part of the book that is lost in the second. Though we are dealing with the same characters, in a lot of ways it felt as though we were engaging with different text. The first part of the book had a traditional horror feel with the possibility of paranormal elements, but the second of the book pushed aside those characteristics for an emphasis of this chaotic battle between good and evil. Because of this a lot of individuals rated the book at a low star rating. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I saw and felt the shift but I still was interested in seeing where the story was going to go especially since we were given perspectives of the events through the eyes of various characters. However, I will say that it was too long. This book stands at 700 pages and really could have afforded to be 200 pages less. There is a build up to the reveal of what is going on and then we end up with redundant resolutions. It was almost like thinking that the book was over before hearing Chbosky shout "Sike! Keep reading." And that went on for quite a while. I'm not sure why this was a method/style chosen to convey that "big battle" at the end of the book but it didn't work for me.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. The spookiness and then my pure curiosity for the commentary on good vs. evil, familial relationships, forgiveness, etc made for a really good experience.
Prior to reading Imaginary Friend I had heard so many bad reviews. One of the major criticisms is that the book changes writing style and intent partway through book. So, going into this book I expected that aspect to be a make or break. Surprsingly, it didn't bother me in the same way that it bothered a lot of people. I've heard this readily compared to King. I really haven't read much of Stephen King to have any sort of comparison; however, if you like horror that reads almost like literary horror I think you might actually enjoy this.
Imaginary Friend focuses on seven year old Christopher and his mother as they move to a small town to escape an abusive relationship. While in the small town Christopher goes missing for six days. Prior to his vanishing, Christopher struggled with a lot of things including reading. When he reappears after vanishing he seemingly improves at everything and even has some abilities that people would deem supernatural. I won't lie and say that I didn't have a ton of theories as to why Christopher was this "new and improved" child. A huge part of me thought it was deeply related to an alien invasion. I was so wrong. While I can't go into the details related to why things were happening the way that they were, I can wholeheartedly state that this book is atmospheric and CREEPY. And when I say creepy I mean I would jump if I heard a noise in my own apartment while listening to the audiobook. There was this obsession that impacts Christopher that literally made me feel overwhelmed and anxious. And the way that the town was impacted made my skin crawl. I haven't read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Chbosky, but I can tell from this work alone that he is a masterful writer that is capable of engaging his audience with every word, sentence, paragraph, and page. I parallelled my obsession with this book to Chirstophers and found myself itching to read more and more when I had any free moment. Nevertheless, even with the level of engagement that I had with this book I will say that I competely and totally understand why it has been rated so lowly.
Imaginary Friend, in more ways than one, feels like two different books. Chbosky has a certain style and intent in the first part of the book that is lost in the second. Though we are dealing with the same characters, in a lot of ways it felt as though we were engaging with different text. The first part of the book had a traditional horror feel with the possibility of paranormal elements, but the second of the book pushed aside those characteristics for an emphasis of this chaotic battle between good and evil. Because of this a lot of individuals rated the book at a low star rating. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I saw and felt the shift but I still was interested in seeing where the story was going to go especially since we were given perspectives of the events through the eyes of various characters. However, I will say that it was too long. This book stands at 700 pages and really could have afforded to be 200 pages less. There is a build up to the reveal of what is going on and then we end up with redundant resolutions. It was almost like thinking that the book was over before hearing Chbosky shout "Sike! Keep reading." And that went on for quite a while. I'm not sure why this was a method/style chosen to convey that "big battle" at the end of the book but it didn't work for me.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. The spookiness and then my pure curiosity for the commentary on good vs. evil, familial relationships, forgiveness, etc made for a really good experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Child death
Minor: Rape
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