Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

38 reviews

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 against another edition

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

pyotrkrothotkin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I could have done without the Jesus, God, The Devil etc. metaphors. I think the story had much more potential before that was all brought into it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Suicide, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Violence

glowbruise's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

stranger things and it and supernatural combined 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

madinhoa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, Cannibalism, and Animal death

mpango's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Pretty slow and about 100 pages too long IMHO

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape

seawarrior's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The strongest merit of Imaginary Friend is how it remains equally engaging page after page, which was a relief, since there are nearly a thousand of them. Chbosky's effort developing his characters is a key factor in the story's power. Lore wise, I was somewhat disappointed once all secrets were revealed, yet I was still satisfied reading Christopher and Kate's fight against evil. 

It's difficult for me to gather much more to say about the book since it's so expansive, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others. I did think the horror was written well, but the true source of it felt trite to me and I'd really been expecting something more original. If you do read it please review the list of content warnings, which is nearly as long as the book itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War

sandpiper22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Dementia, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Addiction

mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition

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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

starklinqs's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

First off - I get the 3.3 rating, despite my own. The book is longer than it needs to be and the Catholic allegory in particular is strong. The author felt like he was going through a religious crisis throughout the book, and I think if you’re not a fan of religious themes then this is definitively not the book for you. 

But somehow I still really enjoyed the book, to the point where anything less than a 5 felt wrong, even though I had my criticisms of it. I was as close to spooked as I’ve ever been reading a horror book (which I haven’t been in a long time) and I honestly just loved the characters dearly and wanted the best for them. I got through this book in about 2 or 3 days so honestly, it clearly had me gripped and I’m going to be thinking about these characters for a while. And as a side note — I enjoyed how the characters felt real, female characters in particular. The women felt like real people whereas I feel like sometimes in horror (at least written by white male authors that I’ve read before) they get reduced to tropes but I didn’t feel thst here, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Gun violence, Child death, and Death