Reviews with content warning for Torture - Imaginary Friend

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

33 reviews

hxppyhxt's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

2 Stars instead of 1 because I really enjoyed the first half or so of the book.

Far too long of a book. I really enjoyed the first half or so of the book, then I got to the point where I was like there is still half of this book to read and everything in the summary has been done. And the random capitalization in words was so annoying, I thought they would spell something (especially when the author set this up to be the case with

Spoilerthe journal) but spelling them out in many places was just fruitless. Very frustrating. I decided to DNF after an entire chapter of the uppercase nonsense where I spent so long trying to decode it only to get something along the lines of "HIMEEEEEEEIEEE". So many "hE". I thought that maybe it was intentional to just refer to a specific character in this way, but then even within the chapter it was not consistently "hE", sometimes it would just be a normal "he", which blew that theory out of the water. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to figure it out but honestly it got to the point where I didn't even care enough to figure it out.

Some of the twists were well set up so that you could figure them out or at least get a sense that something was amiss. Others felt completely random and felt like they had virtually no setup or foreshadowing.

SpoilerI don't mind some religious undertones, but in this case it really felt like two different books. The first half really had very little indication that the plot was headed towards a Christian allegory, and then in the second half it just felt like "and guess what, this is Satan. Oh and this? Yea she's actually the Virgin Mary. Oh yea, this is God. This is the Tree of Good and Evil. This is Eve, you know from the garden of Eden? And this is literal Hell" and on and on. I feel like setting it up more at the beginning would have made it feel less random.

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paronomaniac's review

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dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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nikimorr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is the kind of book where you could read it more than once and each time find a new message or meaning in it. Overall, I felt like this book came together in the end and answered almost all of the lingering questions. Also, what a creative story idea! This took a special kind of story telling to bring this all together.

My favorite part of the book was the beginning. A mother and son, both of whom are trying to do their best for each other. I really loved their bond and their struggles. I couldn’t wait to get off work to rejoin them in this story, especially for the first ~100 pages. The power of a mother’s love resonates through every chapter, beginning to end.

It is a long book, but I never really got tired of it. I think part of the enjoyment comes from different character perspectives in short chapters. My favorite type of book is from various points of view.

There is a lot of religion in this book. I was not raised in a religious environment, so I would not be surprised to learn that there was a lot more to get from these parts, especially from Mary Katherine. I struggled with liking her character, but what I did gather from her message (spoiler) is that she goes from the side of religion that is focused on being perfect/fear to what the true goal should be - love. I am still pondering the meaning of her pregnancy (besides the “Virgin Mary” reference).

Spoiler - I found the ending of the book to be quite wonderful. What resonated with me is that the true Hell comes from within - especially with our own guilt and not letting go. We create our own hell. The only freedom can come from within and forgiving ourselves. Also, the importance of coming from a place of love and forgiveness, even with those who have done wrong. Finally, recognizing when we are wrong and working to fix/repent. It ended up being a very positive book with a worthwhile message.

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finn_vibing's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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lizkoroskenyi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

I'm too tired after reading this mammoth to put together a well written review... So here are just some quick thoughts I had while reading.

Fine but pretentious. I enjoyed the story up until the halfway mark and then wondered why he couldn't just wrap it up and be done? Why did it need to be over 700 pages?

It felt very much like he was trying to write a Stephen King book. Especially with the unneeded deep backgrounds on every single character and super long, unnecessary drawn out scenes.

There were so many statements that felt like they were supposed to be profound but really weren't. It read more like Christian horror fanfiction than anything deep and complex.

Every other line was a simile or a metaphor and it got VERY sickening very quickly. Especially since they were mostly terrible.

Also what is up with the author's obsession with the cool side of the pillow? It must have come up at least a hundred times.

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