A review by soyboi
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book is one big Jesus allegory and it sucks. It’s not subtle. I never read Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I guess I expected more from the author. Not one big Sunday school version of his personal heroic fantasies. “The Hissing Lady” aka Satan, but let’s make her a woman because women are the root of all evil I guess. “Don’t go off the street, or they’ll get you.” aka the Xtian path. The main character’s name is literally CHRISTopher. 
Also, it bugged me that all these other characters, like Brody and Jenny and the librarian, are the Hissing Lady’s henchmen toward the end because they’re LITERALLY BEING ABUSED. Like, Jenny is being molested by her brother and when she’s under the Hissing Lady’s power, she wants to punish the brother. But imo, the little fucker SHOULD be punished. Why are we making that Satanic? Sounds like justice to me. Anyway, I’m not a fan of being beaten over the head with bible stories. Gag me. 
This book was LONG AS HELL. So much of it us extraneous details and the same words and sentiments repeated over and over. 
The half star is for the narrator of the audiobook, who has a great voice and was able to give each character a little something different. Props to her.
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