Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Imaginary Friend

I feel like this started off really strong, and then at some point around the 70% mark it really kind of lost me. I just wasn't a big fan of the direction it went, or some of the choices that were made. I will say, though, that the way that it ended really did bring it back around for me.

Content Warnings

nitny19's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bookishrealm's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

archaicrobin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I was so excited to start this book. I had heard such good things about it, it was recommended by so many people and I absolutely HATED it. First problem? This book is WAY too long. I listened to the audiobook and it was over 24 hours!! I love long books, I’m not afraid to start a big book but this one was so unnecessarily long and repetitive and pointless, by the time I got halfway through I was so done.

I probably should have just DNF’d this one but I only had 3 hrs left so I buckled down and finished it. And was it worth it? No, it wasn’t.

2nd problem? It really doesn’t make any sense at all. If you think you’re going to understand or get some grand explanation about the Hissing Lady, or the Nice Man, we’ll forget it. You get an “explanation” if you can call it that, but it’s so stupid and so infuriating I would have preferred no explanation at all.

3rd problem? They make this sound like it’s a creepy ghost mystery kinda supernatural thriller but it’s not. You spend a majority of the time reading about all the people in this stupid little town and sometimes you’re in the imaginary world but who cares because it’s just as boring as the real world. Also the twist? No, no no no no. I don’t want to spoil the twist in case you still want to torture yourself with this book, but it’s stupid.

Overall, not my cup of tea and a huge disappointment. Also not a wry at all, and deer don’t eat meat so all the scenes with deer eating people? Stupid.

Content Warnings

More...