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A review by bookph1le
Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma
3.0
My only real reaction to this book is "meh". I wasn't that thrilled with it more as a matter of personal preference than because of any flaws. In all, it's a well done novel, it's just not really my cup of tea. More complete review to follow.
Full review:
For me, one of the worst things that can happen when I finish a book is for me to feel ambivalent about it. Even if a book is bad, it means that it provoked some kind of reaction in me, so a book that just makes me think "meh" is one that fails to elicit any real reaction on my part. Unfortunately, Imaginary Girls is one such book. It's not a bad book and, in fact, some of it is very well-written. But, by the time I'd finished, I just felt pretty indifferent about it. Spoilers to follow.
One of the ultimate strengths of the novel is the supernatural elements, though I'm not sure these had as much impact as they could have. I was very confused for the first part of the novel, trying to piece together exactly what was going on. However, once I had a better grasp on things, I thought the story was very eerie, particularly the imagery of the submerged town and the way the reservoir became almost a living creature, relentlessly pursuing Chloe. Still, I thought that Chloe was just too accepting of the general weirdness of her life, and that didn't work for me. If the point was that she just didn't want to touch it because she couldn't deal with it, I don't think the narrative adequately conveyed that. As it was, I think she was a little too apt to roll with things that would cause most other people to freak out at least a little.
The thing I most disliked about the book was the character of Ruby. I just thought she was so thoroughly unlikable that I couldn't understand why Chloe simply went along with everything her sister told her to do. Ruby ostensibly cares about Chloe, but she's not shy about exploiting and using pretty much everyone else. Though there are some points in the novel where it's obvious that perhaps the people in town don't like Ruby quite as much as Chloe may have believed, it simply didn't make sense to me that Ruby could get away with as much as she could, particularly when it came to Chloe. I also didn't entirely buy that Ruby was doing what she did in order to protect Chloe. In many ways, Chloe was simply another pawn that she could easily manipulate, and I really wanted to see Chloe stand up and defy her sister. It was very disappointing to me that she didn't. It was a real weakness of the novel that the reader doesn't get to see enough of Chloe and Ruby's relationship to fully realize just why Chloe seems to worship her sister unquestioningly.
I also felt that Ruby and Chloe's mother wasn't put to good use in the novel. I liked the scene where Chloe finally talks with her mother and realizes that her mother is afraid of Ruby. Because their mother is absent from so much of the novel, I felt this was a really missed opportunity to play up Ruby's ominous side. I also think their mother was given short shrift because her alcoholism and absenteeism might have been due to her inability to cope with what she knew her daughter to be, but the novel doesn't really offer up enough proof of this to make it as strong a subplot as it could have been.
I have to say, I also found it very annoying that Suma named each chapter according to the first few words of that chapter. It didn't bother me much at first, but as I got further into the novel, I was just annoyed by the repetition. I think Suma would have been better off just leaving this device out and simply numbering each chapter.
Lastly, there was a lack of clarity at times that didn't really do the novel any favors. A lot of it felt dreamlike to me, but not necessarily in a good way. Because the reader is often thrown right into the middle of a situation, it is sometimes difficult to follow the action. It's also confusing because characters who were doing one thing are suddenly doing something very different. This gave the novel a disjointed feel that was not to its advantage.
It's a shame I didn't like this novel more. The writing is strong and Suma has a great concept, as well as creating a very eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were some flaws to it that made it difficult to become as immersed in the story as I might otherwise have been.
Full review:
For me, one of the worst things that can happen when I finish a book is for me to feel ambivalent about it. Even if a book is bad, it means that it provoked some kind of reaction in me, so a book that just makes me think "meh" is one that fails to elicit any real reaction on my part. Unfortunately, Imaginary Girls is one such book. It's not a bad book and, in fact, some of it is very well-written. But, by the time I'd finished, I just felt pretty indifferent about it. Spoilers to follow.
One of the ultimate strengths of the novel is the supernatural elements, though I'm not sure these had as much impact as they could have. I was very confused for the first part of the novel, trying to piece together exactly what was going on. However, once I had a better grasp on things, I thought the story was very eerie, particularly the imagery of the submerged town and the way the reservoir became almost a living creature, relentlessly pursuing Chloe. Still, I thought that Chloe was just too accepting of the general weirdness of her life, and that didn't work for me. If the point was that she just didn't want to touch it because she couldn't deal with it, I don't think the narrative adequately conveyed that. As it was, I think she was a little too apt to roll with things that would cause most other people to freak out at least a little.
The thing I most disliked about the book was the character of Ruby. I just thought she was so thoroughly unlikable that I couldn't understand why Chloe simply went along with everything her sister told her to do. Ruby ostensibly cares about Chloe, but she's not shy about exploiting and using pretty much everyone else. Though there are some points in the novel where it's obvious that perhaps the people in town don't like Ruby quite as much as Chloe may have believed, it simply didn't make sense to me that Ruby could get away with as much as she could, particularly when it came to Chloe. I also didn't entirely buy that Ruby was doing what she did in order to protect Chloe. In many ways, Chloe was simply another pawn that she could easily manipulate, and I really wanted to see Chloe stand up and defy her sister. It was very disappointing to me that she didn't. It was a real weakness of the novel that the reader doesn't get to see enough of Chloe and Ruby's relationship to fully realize just why Chloe seems to worship her sister unquestioningly.
I also felt that Ruby and Chloe's mother wasn't put to good use in the novel. I liked the scene where Chloe finally talks with her mother and realizes that her mother is afraid of Ruby. Because their mother is absent from so much of the novel, I felt this was a really missed opportunity to play up Ruby's ominous side. I also think their mother was given short shrift because her alcoholism and absenteeism might have been due to her inability to cope with what she knew her daughter to be, but the novel doesn't really offer up enough proof of this to make it as strong a subplot as it could have been.
I have to say, I also found it very annoying that Suma named each chapter according to the first few words of that chapter. It didn't bother me much at first, but as I got further into the novel, I was just annoyed by the repetition. I think Suma would have been better off just leaving this device out and simply numbering each chapter.
Lastly, there was a lack of clarity at times that didn't really do the novel any favors. A lot of it felt dreamlike to me, but not necessarily in a good way. Because the reader is often thrown right into the middle of a situation, it is sometimes difficult to follow the action. It's also confusing because characters who were doing one thing are suddenly doing something very different. This gave the novel a disjointed feel that was not to its advantage.
It's a shame I didn't like this novel more. The writing is strong and Suma has a great concept, as well as creating a very eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were some flaws to it that made it difficult to become as immersed in the story as I might otherwise have been.