Reviews

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

shrewdbard's review

It's literally just

Christian propaganda

. It didn't start out that way! It started out scary and well-written! The

Catholic

stuff was muted and made sense for the Western Pennsylvania setting! But then everything went so, so downhill. I'm so ridiculously disappointed. I cannot believe the guy behind queer icon Perks of Being a Wallflower would write this.

marieeve1978's review against another edition

4.0

Way too long, but very imaginative. Reminiscent of Stephen King in a lot of ways.

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

1.0

This one was rough. It’s been a long time but I found The Perks of Being a Wallflower to have a quiet, underlying brilliance; therefore, I was constantly wondering what had happened to Chbosky and why he’d never published anything else. Now I know. I had massive expectations going into this and was amazed with a sprinkling of joy when I saw that not only was Chbosky publishing a new novel but it was also in the horror genre. I preordered immediately and waited patiently. Months later this brick is delivered to my door. It’s hulking. 720 pages. Reminds me of a King book. I’m excited to get started. The first 50 pages are intriguing. The remaining 670 pages are fatuous, uninteresting, and bloated with nonsense. A character named The Nice Man and another called The Hissing Lady. An immaculate conception. A treehouse to another world. Sound fascinating? Think again. This was an epic slog. The story goes on and on and gets more outlandish. You’d think a semi-cohesive novel at 720 pages would warrant perhaps two stars. But I just hated it. What a colossal disappointment. Ridiculous. But at least this answers my question: why hasn’t Chbosky published anything else? Case in point. Wow.

lilbookowl's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

tiarakessell's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoyed this book a lot. There were times I struggled to put it down. There are religious aspects that could make it a bit controversial. I fully recommend it to my fellow readers.

ashleyjean569's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

kellyjacqueline's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

cassmdurell's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

This book was incredibly slow with large sections where not much happens to drive the plot along. I didn’t really care for the

big reveal of the nice man actually being bad. And as just a general story of good versus bad it fell pretty flat.

lcourage's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

paumduclaud's review against another edition

3.0

3.5
Empecemos con lo que sí me gustó del libro. Está muy bien escrito. Escogí este libro porque es de terror y en ese rubro no decepcionó. Las escenas de terror son muy buenas, especialmente las que son desde el punto de vista de Christopher. También me gustaron los personajes. Todos son muy humanos, reales, con defectos y vidas y pasados complicados. Otra cosa que me gustó es el “toque Chbosky” en el libro. A pesar de ser de terror, hay reflexiones, muchas sobre la humanidad, la bondad, la comunidad. Para 2/3 del libro, yo juraba que le pondría 4-5 estrellas.
Dicho eso, va lo que no me gustó. El libro tiene un fuerte tinte espiritual/religioso con el que definitivamente no me identifico, y nadie me advirtió que estaba ahí. Y creo que no había necesidad de meterlo. Creo que el libro pudo haber llamado por sí solo a la reflexión sin meter un dios y una religión específica. Porque claro, con la religión vienen opiniones. Opiniones que no quedan abiertas a debate sino como verdades.
En conclusión, es un buen libro de terror y si te identificas con esa línea de pensamiento y religión, o es algo que puedas ignorar, este libro te va a gustar. Si eres más como yo, no lo recomiendo.