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A review by bookishrealm
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
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.
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
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Child death
Minor: Rape