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garbanzogrl's review against another edition
4.0
I don't really know what to say about Imaginary Girls. It was shocking, disturbing, and just plain weird. It left me in a daze. The main character, Chloe, doesn't have much of a personality on her own. She doesn't speak for herself really, she mostly just does and says what her sister, Ruby, tells her to. She is like a blank vessel for her sister, and she doesn't even realize it. That, to me, was highly disturbing.
This novel is a mysterious, supernatural type of story. The events in the novel get stranger and stranger as the story goes on. This novel has a certain quality that most YA novels don't have, I just can't pinpoint it. It was unique, an oddity among other YA novels. I liked that.
Although there were many things I liked about Imaginary Girls, there is one thing I didn't like. It felt like there were too many loose ties at the end. There wasn't much of an explanation of anything. I'm fine with leaving some things unexplained, because sometimes it can add to the story, but for this one it just felt a little unfinished.
Over all, Imaginary Girls was a good read. I would definitely recommend it.
This novel is a mysterious, supernatural type of story. The events in the novel get stranger and stranger as the story goes on. This novel has a certain quality that most YA novels don't have, I just can't pinpoint it. It was unique, an oddity among other YA novels. I liked that.
Although there were many things I liked about Imaginary Girls, there is one thing I didn't like. It felt like there were too many loose ties at the end. There wasn't much of an explanation of anything. I'm fine with leaving some things unexplained, because sometimes it can add to the story, but for this one it just felt a little unfinished.
Over all, Imaginary Girls was a good read. I would definitely recommend it.
tess1209's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alisarae's review against another edition
Nova Ren Suma is my favorite. The poetry of how she captures the spirit of teenage girls is phenomenal.
sammy234's review against another edition
3.0
"I could see her smile. I wished I hadn't, because it was the kind of smile she never gave to me. It was smile for a boy who wanted to know her and never would. A smile for a girl who wanted to be like her and never could be. A smile for a perfect stranger."
eckhaa04's review against another edition
4.0
Took a little while to get into this one but, once I did - I thoroughly enjoyed it.
cupcakegirly's review against another edition
2.0
If this book was a movie it would have me sitting, preferably not alone, with my hands covering my eyes while peaking through my fingers to see what happens. Stories like this are the reason I don't go swimming a) at night (in any body of water) and b) I avoid the deep end of every body of water, period. I had high hopes for this book (the cover is beautiful!) but unfortunately, it left me with an eery feeling and lots of unanswered questions, like why Ruby is the way she was? Her mother alluded to something later in the book but never clarified. Is there really magic involved or something else?
Chloe frustrated me at times because just when it seems she starts to see her sister for who she really is, she gets sucked right back in again. I also didn't "get" that so many people were under Ruby's "spell" either. Even if there's magic involved it just didn't seem that believable to me. I think the only sane character was Owen and I was thoroughly disappointed in how his part played out. I felt like there was so much more to the relationship he and Chloe were developing, the fact that Ruby's influence didn't work on him, Chloe was beginning to pick up on certain things, etc., that could've served the plot more. I kept hoping that the story would pick up at the end, questions would get answered but they didn't. I was just left with an overall "creepy" feeling. I had a really hard time finishing this book and that almost never happens to me, especially with YA books.
Chloe frustrated me at times because just when it seems she starts to see her sister for who she really is, she gets sucked right back in again. I also didn't "get" that so many people were under Ruby's "spell" either. Even if there's magic involved it just didn't seem that believable to me. I think the only sane character was Owen and I was thoroughly disappointed in how his part played out. I felt like there was so much more to the relationship he and Chloe were developing, the fact that Ruby's influence didn't work on him, Chloe was beginning to pick up on certain things, etc., that could've served the plot more. I kept hoping that the story would pick up at the end, questions would get answered but they didn't. I was just left with an overall "creepy" feeling. I had a really hard time finishing this book and that almost never happens to me, especially with YA books.
kblincoln's review against another edition
5.0
Chloe is a high school girl who lives with her father and stepmother. Only...really she's the younger sister of Ruby.
Ruby is the kind of girl who can walk into a shop and get two pairs of $15 sunglasses for $5. The kind of girl who has ex-boyfriends her Chloe can call in the middle of the night to fetch them ice pops. The kind of girl the world adjusts itself to fit.
And Ruby has come for Chloe after two years of living separately. She wants to bring Chloe back to the town where they grew up. The town where two years ago, Chloe went swimming in the reservoir and almost drowned, but found a classmate's body floating in an old rowboat instead.
Chloe goes back with her sister, and everything is just like it was two years ago. Only it's not, and Ruby doesn't have as tight a grip on the world as she thinks.
Reading Imaginary Girls is like fully immersing yourself in a warm bath of smooth prose. Chloe can't quite see the truth of what Ruby is, or the ramification of her own escape from the reservoir. While the story hints to the reader the truth; it's as blurry and muffled as a face underwater.
Chloe is utterly and totally believable as a younger sister caught up in Ruby's shadow. Her matter-of-fact acceptance of the way townspeople worship her sister, and her talk of the drowned town of Olive (under the reservoir) coats the fantastical with a thin layer of mundane. Only near the end does Chloe and the reader face the stark truth of what Ruby is capable of.
Haunting and lovely and sad. How we can create ourselves from the people around us, and how those people can tear us apart.
This Book's Snack Rating: Sea salt and vinegar Pop Chips for the taste of tears on your tongue that melts away into nothingness. After consuming the bag, you are left with the ghost of sour on your tongue to haunt the rest of your day.
Ruby is the kind of girl who can walk into a shop and get two pairs of $15 sunglasses for $5. The kind of girl who has ex-boyfriends her Chloe can call in the middle of the night to fetch them ice pops. The kind of girl the world adjusts itself to fit.
And Ruby has come for Chloe after two years of living separately. She wants to bring Chloe back to the town where they grew up. The town where two years ago, Chloe went swimming in the reservoir and almost drowned, but found a classmate's body floating in an old rowboat instead.
Chloe goes back with her sister, and everything is just like it was two years ago. Only it's not, and Ruby doesn't have as tight a grip on the world as she thinks.
Reading Imaginary Girls is like fully immersing yourself in a warm bath of smooth prose. Chloe can't quite see the truth of what Ruby is, or the ramification of her own escape from the reservoir. While the story hints to the reader the truth; it's as blurry and muffled as a face underwater.
Chloe is utterly and totally believable as a younger sister caught up in Ruby's shadow. Her matter-of-fact acceptance of the way townspeople worship her sister, and her talk of the drowned town of Olive (under the reservoir) coats the fantastical with a thin layer of mundane. Only near the end does Chloe and the reader face the stark truth of what Ruby is capable of.
Haunting and lovely and sad. How we can create ourselves from the people around us, and how those people can tear us apart.
This Book's Snack Rating: Sea salt and vinegar Pop Chips for the taste of tears on your tongue that melts away into nothingness. After consuming the bag, you are left with the ghost of sour on your tongue to haunt the rest of your day.
meganmreads's review against another edition
4.0
Imaginary Girls was intense, creepy, and mysterious. For a very long time, I had no idea what was happening. On the surface, Chloe found a dead girl floating in the middle of their local reservoir while swimming one night and it freaked her out. But underneath, it was a story about something else altogether.
The book is one of the most unique stories I’ve read in a while. I loved the way it was written because it revealed small pieces of the story lurking under the surface. It was written from Chloe’s point of view, which was obviously skewed in favor of her sister, Ruby. Imaginary Girls was such a sinister story. It was a story about family and the bond between Ruby and Chloe, but it was also a story about control.
It’s difficult to go into too much detail without ruining the plot. It was just one those books you have to read to figure out.
I loved the book and I would recommend it to fans of Megan Abbott’s novels. Like her books, Imaginary Girls was strange, dark, twisted, and sinister, but also beautiful and engaging. While Imaginary Girls is more YA than Megan Abbott’s novels, they share a lot of similar themes. I’m so glad I found the book during my last used bookstore run! I can’t wait to read more of the author’s books.
The book is one of the most unique stories I’ve read in a while. I loved the way it was written because it revealed small pieces of the story lurking under the surface. It was written from Chloe’s point of view, which was obviously skewed in favor of her sister, Ruby. Imaginary Girls was such a sinister story. It was a story about family and the bond between Ruby and Chloe, but it was also a story about control.
It’s difficult to go into too much detail without ruining the plot. It was just one those books you have to read to figure out.
I loved the book and I would recommend it to fans of Megan Abbott’s novels. Like her books, Imaginary Girls was strange, dark, twisted, and sinister, but also beautiful and engaging. While Imaginary Girls is more YA than Megan Abbott’s novels, they share a lot of similar themes. I’m so glad I found the book during my last used bookstore run! I can’t wait to read more of the author’s books.
beeancadawn's review against another edition
3.0
I had difficulties with this book. Whilst spiritually I am very open this was unhinged on a level I found difficult to connect to.....
Written well, and intriguing but not something I would normally seek out.
Written well, and intriguing but not something I would normally seek out.