Imaginary Friend

I want to give less stars, but I can't, because the beginning 40 or so chapters were captivating. But the rest of it was just utter nonsense. If I had to read that something looked like baby teeth one more time I was gonna pull out my own teeth. Or read that there was some cloud motif for the 30th time or if I had to believe a group of 7 year olds built a tree house like that? C'mon bud. I know you want the comradery of Stranger Things or It, but this book wasn't doing it for me. The ending was too drawn out, and there were too many spots where I wanted it to be over with the endless near climaxes. If I wanted to be edged I'd have gone on a tinder date. All in all, read til it starts to repeat itself and put it down, and just know the ending is a weird twist of religious themes and repeating paragraphs for the sake of making the book longer. Sorry Chbosky, but this didn't fill my craving for horror.

I figured out where this was going less than an hour into listening to it, and the writing wasn't good enough to make me want to finish it despite knowing the ending.

Uno de mis libros favoritos, es increíble simplemente

2.75
eh this was so good and promising at first, loved the first 60-70% but then it just fell apart and was kinda messy. also a little too religious for my liking

3.5
První polovina skvělá. Christopherova máma, šerif, Ambrose - super. Stephen King vibes. Od části V dál se to neskutečně táhlo a opakovalo, ztratilo to jakýkoliv momentum a tak minimálně 200 stránek se dalo proškrtat. Konec celkem meh.

Yeesh. That's the review.

I heard such great things about this book and was excited to pick it up. And it started quite strong, had some neat and creepy moments. But like others have said, it became an absolute CHORE to read around the 65% mark. Much longer than it needed to be and so many repetitive moments that were annoying to have to reread. It kept feeling like I should've have made it to the end only to be reminded that there were still 200 more pages of story. And the ending was disappointingly predictable. Some books, you see where it's going and feel a sense of accomplishment when you are right. This was just a sigh of “Yeah...that's what I thought.”

Okay I never do text reviews because who would be interested in me doing that but after seeing so many people with the same opinion as me I had to. The book could 100% have been 200 pages shorter. It sucked that after 600 pages of really decent and engaging horror building up, we're slapped in the face with a bunch of not even subtle religious “sub”text. 
Also I dislike King so the similarities that I did notice were really disappointing but not something I really want to talk about on Storygraph.

OH
Hello, what?

I don't have the words to fully explain how I feel after finishing this. First 300 pages, absolutely fine, better than fine, actually really good. It reads like a love letter to Stephen King, the influences are there for all to see, bits of IT, The Talisman and whiff of Needful Things.

BUT THEN.

Honestly I don't know ... some kind of Christian fable, God v The Devil with rabid deer, a mass scabies outbreak, immaculate conception, LOTS of hissing and LOTS of scratching and tree houses lots of those too. I was ready to give up on a number of occasions but strangely I kept going and I don't feel any better for doing so. I'm sure some people will find some meaning in those last 500 hundred pages but I am not one of them, in fact, I might never read again.

Rating: 4.5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Mystery
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Yeah!

This took a really long time to finish but not because it was bad! I am glad I took my time though. It was creepy and pulled you in. Christopher is a doll, I loved him and his mother is pretty bad ass. The characters introduce were like seasonings after seasonings making the dish perfect. Also that ending... wow....

Makes me hope for a second book honestly. Lol

What a disappointment. Just a muddled mess from about a third of the way on. I truly don't mind religious allegory and I think it can be accomplished in contemporary horror and not just so-called “Christian” novels, but this is just bad and mishandled. Heavy-handed, silly, pretentious, and lost to its own bizarre dogma.

This book wasn't for me. Maybe I wasn't smart enough for this. IDK.
This was weird instead of creepy or spooky. The setting had spooky vibes but the story... It took a dive after being very promising in the beginning.

I wanted to like this book. I've never read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, so I didn't have any expectations for Chbosky. It had a strong start and a fascinating premise, but it wore on and on until I felt like I was finishing the book out of spite.

By a little past halfway, the “twist” felt obvious and I was tired of being browbeaten withe repetition that began to read like “WOW THIS IS A METAPHOR!” and “SYMBOLS!”

Again, I really had high hopes, but this book could have been half the length and just as pointless.

Well, that's the last time I pick a book up blindly because a booktuber that I like said she loved it. So to be quite frank it was my fault for choosing to read a book that was not at all my cup of tea but I can't say I didn't enjoy it whatsoever so I am giving it three stars. It was a well written and developed book but it was just too out there for me and so far from any realm of possibility or reality that it was hard for me to take this book seriously and I forced myself to get through it because I have a hard time DNFing books. Plus, I am one of those people who likes to venture outside of her comfort zone so I gave it a chance and just because it was not for me I could see others loving it who are more into fantasy and probably have bigger imaginations than me because I have none.

Imaginary Friend is about a boy who moves into a new town with his mother, who is running away from an abusive relationship and how things start to go crazy after he goes into the woods and is missing for six days after. The plot itself sounded interesting enough to me but was a lot more than I bargained for. I thought it would be more rooted in reality but it was so fantastical that I had a hard time imagining all the weird happenings and growing attached to the characters in these impossible situations. I think I will be taking a long break from horror after this and will be sticking to my more realistic thrillers that seem more plausible and just touch me differently.

Further on, the characterization was probably the strongest point in this book and even though I rolled my eyes a lot at what was happening, I still found myself worried and stressing for all of the different personalities in this book and rooting for them to come out on top. They all had their quirks and flaws and I loved seeing how they all struggled in life one way or another because a lot of times we find ourselves wishing we had someone else's life without knowing what that person is actually going through themselves. I just wish the fantastical aspect would have been toned down just a bit and I would have grown attached to the characters even more but they ended up remaining at a distance to me.

Thirdly, the writing was problematic for me. I have been wanting to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower ever since watching the movie but I will not be doing that anymore because the writing was too much to stomach for me. There were too many descriptions and elongated sentences and they in turn took something away from the actual story in my opinion. There were a lot of instances where I had to go back and reread sentences to make sure I wasn't missing something crucial or significant from it. The overwhelming writing style along with an overly action-packed plot made for one difficult novel for me to finish. Also, what was done in 700 pages could have easily been done in 500 or less and would have been a lot more impactful.

In conclusion, I realize that I am probably not the right reader for this novel but even so there were too many issues that I had with it and had to force myself to get through it so I could move onto other novels. Putting the lack of reality aside, this novel was nothing but overwhelming in every sense of the word and I will not be recommending it to anyone in the near future. It could make a good tv show I think but too many things are up for interpretation and there's nothing much concrete to hold onto at all. For people who love thrillers like me and even horror based more in realism, I would advise you skip this one and save yourself the time of reading a 700 page novel.

This book really captured me at the start but started losing me halfway in. By 3/4 I was ready for it to hurry up and be over. The religious themes were too strong

This book really captured me at the start but started losing me halfway in. By 3/4 I was ready for it to hurry up and be over. The religious themes were too strong

Wobbling between and 3 and 4 star. Beautiful writing and a rich story but painfully long at times.

There is a lot going on in this book. I am not going to spoil things, but the first half of the book I liked. The second half of the book went a little down hill for me. The writing was great, the premise was amazing. I don't read a lot of horror, but this book kept me engaged. When I finished the book I still kept thinking about it .

Uma palavra para esta leitura: desilusão.
A premissa deste livro tinha tudo para dar certo, ainda assim, na minha opinião este livro foi péssimo. Avalio este livro em 3 estrelas pela escrita do autor que consegue manter-nos agarrados. Praticamente até ao fim do livro fiquei na esperança de que a história tomasse um rumo diferente, mas não tomou. Este livro é altamente fantasioso, cheguei até a pensar para mim mesma que este livro é produto de uma mente doente.
O autor faz aquilo a que gosto de chamar “encher chouriços”, há inúmeras cenas no livro desnecessárias que não acrescentam nada à história e que na minha opinião não têm outro propósito se não adicionar mais páginas ao livro.

I've decided not to rate this. Yes, it was very long, but I was still engaged throughout the story. It could be repetitive and heavy-handed and downright strange but I wasn't disappointed by it. And yet I can't rate it so I won't. More than anything I'd like to hear about Mr. Chbosky's writing process for this. It would take me 20 years to write it too, damn.

The story begins like Stephen King's Novels built up to Matrix in the middle of the book. When you reached the quarter of the book it turned to be Zombies' story. at the end of the book turn again to be a mixed between Jackson Percy's and Harry Potter.

In my opinion, when you try to mix too many things in one book it came out wider than you expected and you can't seem to end it right.

Conclusion,
Good start, nice twisted, and then too much twisted overall.

I think I'll wait for his next novel.

I had high expectations for this book that unfortunately, were not met. This book was really long for no reason, and the plot twist became really weird. Of course, I was 400 pages deep and I felt like I might as well finish it if I spent that much time on it already (a reading habit I need to break, I know).
It took a turn I wasn't expecting, and instead of it creeping me out like how the first few chapters did, it just felt comical.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

El libro se desarrolla muy bien pero encuanto entra x tema ya va en picado, vaya decepción de final

Kate Reese es una madre soltera que escapa de una relación de abuso para empezar desde cero en el pueblo Mill Grove, junto a su hijo de siete anos, Christopher. Pero Mill Grove no resulta ser ese lugar seguro que cree: Christopher desaparece en un bosque cercano, donde hace cincuenta años tuvo lugar otra desaparición similar de un niño que nunca fue resuelta. Seis días después de su desaparición, Christopher aparece, sin un rasguño, pero no es el mismo. Guarda un secreto: una voz en su interior le alerta de una tragedia que está a punto de ocurrir y que sacudirá todo el pueblo. La voz de este nuevo amigo también le dicta una misión: construir junto a sus amigos una casa en un árbol en el bosque, que le permitirá a este amigo escapar de la prisión donde lleva encerrado muchos anos. Sin saberlo, Christopher, Kate y resto de los habitantes de Mill Grove están destinados a jugar un papel en una batalla entre el bien y el mal que los llevara a luchar por sus propias vidas.