Stephen Chbosky

Instant New York Times Bestseller One of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, Lithub, Vox, Washington Post, and more) A young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this acclaimed epic of literary horror from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Christopher is seven years old. Christopher is the new kid in town. Christopher has an imaginary friend. We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out. At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six long days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again. Twenty years ago, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made readers everywhere feel infinite. Now, Chbosky has returned with an epic work of literary horror, years in the making, whose grand scale and rich emotion redefine the genre. Read it with the lights on.

Imaginary Friend

Trinity poskey

An event two decades in the making, Stephen Chbosky's IMAGINARY FRIEND redefines the horror genre. Read it with the lights on. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her seven-year-old son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with Christopher at her side. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out. At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again. Soon Kate and Christopher find themselves in the fight of their lives, caught in the middle of a war playing out between good and evil, with their small town as the battleground.

[Rating: 2 out of 5 stars] 


Jan 21, 2023 - Jan 30, 2023

Possible spoilers ahead, be warned... 

Ridiculous. Tiring. Frustrating. And it keeps going and going and going, gosh!

I thought that this book has an interesting premise and I was actually hooked by the first part. Christopher is such an adorable and considerate child and I want to follow his story. But this book ended up being an absolute madness. So chaotic and not even a good kind of chaos. Everything is happening everywhere. So much point of view from characters who I didn't need nor care for. 

This is also a long ass book! I know I'm not the only person who thinks this is unnecessarily long. The plot is also so annoyingly convenient most of the time, like I know it's within the antagonist's plan for those events to interconnect but it's just so convenient that it's not actually pleasant to read (for example, the balloon with the kids' messages travelled all the way to the faraway state so that the abusive character can get it and tracked them down. for real??!!). And let's talk about how the author thought that everything wasn't chaotic enough, and dragged that abusive character who's living faraway from all of this and shouldn't be there to add to the chaos. Sweet!

Also, that WTF moment when it was revealed that the 'nice man' is really not a nice man. I know I should have seen it coming. I was actually suspicious of him at the beginning but he proved over and over how 'sincere' he was to help Christopher that I completely forgot that nagging suspicion. I don't know how to feel about that. It's expected but also not. 

What drove me mad is the last part of this book. It's actually tiring to see the 'good side' given hope to win the 'war' then that hope was snatched away from them, and that process happened over and over again. I was screaming inside, 'please let's get this over and done with!'. It's the reason why this book is so extremely lenghty. And that epilogue, uggggh. So are we just going to forget that all these madness happened? The whole town was involved and after the final battle, they just brushed the dust off their clothes and go home, like they were not killing each other few minutes ago? So ridiculous. 

This book is so disappointing that this review isn't enough to express my feelings. I would not go out of my way to recommend this book. 

[ 
  2019-2020 READING SPREADSHEETS
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[ 
  NEW READING SPREADSHEETS
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a pretty good read! longing in some parts, felt like fillers. Not my favourite stephen king book, but definitely a nice book to pick up on a rainy day 

Sam Jean 

Kate Reese is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship by starting over in a new town, with her young son Christopher. But Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, is not the safe place they thought it would be... Their world begins to unravel after Christopher vanishes into the Mission Street Woods - where 50 years earlier an eerily similar disappearance occurred. When he emerges six days later, unharmed but not unchanged, he brings with him a secret: a voice only he can hear and a warning of tragedy to come. What follows is a moving, thrilling, chilling modern masterpiece on a par with the very best of Stephen King...

Jule

Es ist nicht der abgefahrenste Thriller, den ich jemals gelesen habe. Aber mir gefiel die Geschichte, ich mochte die Figuren und - Obacht- kontroverse Meinung: die Geschichte hat nicht unter der Länge des Buches gelitten. Es war nicht immer ultimativ spannend, aber das hab ich bei der Seitenzahl auch nicht erwartet. Ich habe das Buch allerdings auch zur Pandemiekrise gelesen und war selbst nicht so auf der Höhe, von daher haben das Buch und ich uns möglicherweise zur richtigen Zeit gefunden. So manche Auflösung habe ich nicht kommen sehen und auch bei den religiösen Aspekten der Geschichte bin ich so "ugh", aber das ist mein persönlicher Geschmack. Verpasst Du was, wenn Du das Buch nicht liest? Nein. Aber es hat trotzdem Spaß gemacht.

Not the most exciting thriller I have ever read but i liked the story and the characters and creatures. I also think the story didn't suffer from its length (controversial opinion!). However, I read this book during the pandemic and I wasn't the lightest myself so the book and I found each other at the right time. Some reveals I didn't see coming and also I was indifferent towards the religious aspects, but that is personal preference right there. Will you suffer from FOMO if you don't read this book? Def not. But it was still a fun read.

Hailey Rae

Disclosure, I took awhile to read this book since I had been so busy BUT this book is a MUST READ and is impossible to put down. There were many plot twists that I did not see coming in the best way possible, and opened a new way of a thriller into literature. The story lines are the best and each character has a great story line that goes one in one with each other as well as complimenting each other’s storylines. This is also not your typical thriller book, and it’s based on an imaginary presence that is so wicked and thrilling in the best way possible. I have never read anything like this before and I am beyond astatic that I picked this book up. Not only is this a unique thriller, it is one where it has disturbing details in visuals and makes you feel as if you are in the story with the characters. As well as giving you a whole new meaning to what an imaginary world may actually be, and if at some point a crazy twisted era works like this. This is the kind of thriller I would love to see in film, and how they would make it work. I would do anything to re-read this book from absolute scratch again. If you’re looking for a good, sucked in thriller that’s not like any other - this is the book for you!

i have no idea how to rate this. (stares into space but not too long in case a deer decides to stare back)

Lacy W

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

tw: suicide, abuse, bullying, slut shaming, child abuse, implied sexual assault

One of my favorite books, after Harry Potter, is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I have a quote from the book on my blog banner, that’s how much I love the book. The movie is even better. So when I heard that Chbosky released a new book, I knew I had to jump on that book. I am beyond glad I picked this up because it has become my new favorite. 

The whole book was just spooky and creepy. The entire time I was reading, I felt this vague uneasiness. The atmosphere was so sinister and I just knew that something was going to happen. I didn’t know when but I knew at some point, something was going to happen and I was going to be so scared. I actually was a little scared, which never happens in books. 

One of the main reasons I loved this book was because of Christopher, the MC. Even though he was 7 (seven), I related to him on a personal level. He wanted to be better at school, especially math and that broke my heart. I know what it feels like and reading about him struggling brought back a lot of emotions. I was really rooting for him even when he was making some less than good choices. 

This book has many POVs but I found that enhanced the story. Every character has a unique personality, that you’ll know pretty immediately who they are and how they pertain to the story. I fell in love with each and every character. Even the “villains”, I found I wanted them to be better. 

Overall, this book was so different from the Perks of Being a Wallflower and that’s a good thing. It means that Chbosky has the chops to do different genres and do them well. I can’t wait to see what he does next. It's the perfect spooky and sinister book for Halloween or really anytime, because spooky season is all year round in my world.

Rachel Kanyid

Definitely an interesting story. Very compelling and great if you're looking for a creepy thriller for Halloween time.

Amigo imaginario

Arturo Hernández

It’s been a while since a horror story captured my attention so profusely. The style of narration reminds me a lot of Stephen King, however there’s a whole new way of describing human emotions that is very specific to Chbosky.

The story was longer than I anticipated and through the different twists and turns in the plot, I was highly engaged. I can see this adapted into a movie format fairly easy and perhaps that was the intention behind the storytelling on this one.

Easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

Carol Bailey

Disappointing 

Initially I was realy engaged with the story/plot but as it progressed the story started feeling repetitive with the same things happening and no real progression in the story. At 50% in it felt like I should have been further along. By 70% I was so desperate for there to be some progression I started skipping whole pages just to feel like I wasn't reading the same thing over and over again.
If this were a movie I would say it was directed by Clint Eastwood. Slow and agonizing until the last 10 mins and by then do you even care?

renee badenoch

The one thing I will say for this book is that the spooky parts were very, very spooky. There were images in this book I'd never seen or thought of before, and parts where I was truly terrified. But a lot of the rest of the book was agonizingly slow, repetitive, and predictable. I was especially bored by the heavy-handed religious imagery of the last 200 pages. I really wanted to like this book, and liked it until about the middle. But it is badly in need of editing and would have more impact were it to be written more concisely.

Jasmine

This book was great...until you get to the end. I read this over a year ago and I’m still salty about it.

Nicole Dykeman

This was a wild ride if I’ve ever been on one and I didn’t want to put it down. As one of my first ventures into adult horror, it did not disappoint.

Jayme Bosio

Stephen Chbosky is a beautiful writer and Imaginary Friend includes thought-provoking ideas on the Hell we make and the power of forgiveness. But holy cow, dude. Wrap it up! No reader should have to suffer through 700+ pages of terror.

Alayna Jones 

Highly recommend for readers who enjoyed Stephen King’s “It” !

Lauren Tabor

This book was like nothing I’ve ever read before. It felt like I was in a nightmare the whole way...which I think was kind of the point. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting, and I am surprised that I actually enjoyed it. It was weird and creepy but in a good way. I will say it was LONG and maybe unnecessarily so. I think the same ideas and points could've been made in much less pages. It was good, and kept the mystery going and was intriguing enough that I wanted to finish it despite it's high page count. It was for sure intimidating when I saw how long it was though. Of course I loved Perks of Being a Wallflower so I was more inclined to want to read this even though I usually shy away from books so long. I definitely recommend this if you love horror and over the top weird books.

Ashlyn

I am so glad I checked this book out from the library instead of buying it. The writing is disappointing, the plot is cardboard spaghetti, and I know Chbosky is better than this.

Ley Stanton

this book was so frustrating from beginning to end.
at first i was willing to forgive the fact that it was all over the place because it was from the perspective of a child but after a while, it just wore me down. 
the plot was literally all over the place and only so much of that can be explained by the...paranormal things going in the town. i loved the concept of something being in the woods that lures the children out there. but, in my opinion, the book just went too far. i think that the story was just reaching to stay interesting by adding so damn much going on the whole time.
i did thoroughly enjoy some of the twists and reveals in this. but the hissing lady...the whole ending with her just makes me so incredibly angry. i just felt that it was completely unnecessary. honestly, this would have been a four star read for me if the story had not gone down that particular path. 
the book also dragged on for far too long. there were too many perspectives at the story started to pick up and it just wasn't needed. a couple of people would have been more than enough to make the point and put the pieces together. showing so many people just made it confusing and i honestly didn't care about most of them. a shorter book also would have improved the pacing. interesting things were dragged out for so long that they were no longer interesting.
i know the children are supposed to be getting help from whatever was in the woods but i think that was partially lazy writing. the children went from extremely simple thought processes to being more competent than the adults, it just made it difficult to see them as children. i often forgot they were only supposed to be eight because of the way that they spoke. 
i wanted so badly to like this book and maybe i will when i re-read it but i'm just completely shocked at the choices that were made while writing this. i really hope that i re-read this in the future and have a completely different opinion but this book just makes me so irrationally angry. there was so much potential and such a unique plot but it was ruined, for me, by the way that it was executed.

Shan

This book had me feeling everything from terrified to sad and then to loved. I was initially afraid to dive into this one due to its length, but once I was hooked I could not stop reading it! Although it got a bit repetitive towards the end, the ending made it all worth it. 

For those of us who remember reading The Battle of Hogwarts for the first time, this book will take you back to that. Imaginary Friend took me places I was not expecting and the spookiness was always there

cléo

Eu posso dizer com todo meu coração que eu amei o livro até mais ou menos umas 500 páginas. As outras 200 páginas me deixaram com um sentimento doce-amargo na boca enquanto lia, mas isso não quer dizer que eu odiei 100% o final.

river k

gave up at 35%. this makes me want to go back to perks of being a wallflower and see if that was poorly written too—this was just so clunky and Not Good. i initially thought the clunkiness of the writing was intentional because we were in the pov of a 7 year old, but then the pov changed to his mother and i realized, oh, no, this is just how chbosky writes apparently. i found all the characters incredibly flat and dull. (also looked at other reviews and found out this is CHRISTIAN fiction? i would have been so mad if i had slogged my way through the rest of this book just to find it was a christian metaphor... not that you can’t have interesting things to say about christianity, but this is so clearly not that)

abi schroeder

this is now my favourite book. i can't think of words to describe it; just read it. I promise, it is so worth the length because I never got bored - genuinely loved the characters and writing from start to finish. I laughed and I definitely cried :)

Mirella Hetekivi

Holy crap! This kind of metaphorical, intelligent and badass modern horror is rare. It's sad to say that it's also rare to come by mentally strong characters that think for themselves, learn from their experiences and use their brains when acting at the same time the reader gets to use their own brain to hang on to it. Fans of Stephen Kings "IT" should love this gem. I sure did.

Sarahi Flores

This book got me so good! I became intrigued by it since the beginning. I felt for Christopher because he’s a sweetheart. Some kids tend to grow up more than others, not referring to age but to his maturity. You can say religion plays a hefty part of this book. Just letting you know. I was open to it but to be honest, you wouldn’t even know it plays a part until towards almost the end. I hope I didn’t just spoil it 🤦🏽‍♀️


The exposition of how the characters of the story impressed me since I, myself, am a single mother so that definitely made it easy for me to relate and have sympathy towards the characters. So Christopher’s mother was a total badass in the story. She is strong and fierce and came thru to do what it takes to protect her son.


This story comes with different point of views from characters in town. Each one has a, you may call, a duty. Just when I think I got it figured out, Chbosky kept throwing curveballs of a twist to the plot. It just made me say “WTH!” Seriously it did. I just couldn’t keep my hands off, I wanted more. 

Don’t let the book overwhelm you. It is chunky but it’s totally fast pace with short chapters. I would have definitely give this book 5 out 5, HOWEVER, towards the end of the book, the author insisted on dragging towards the climax. It just felt like he wanted to keep you at a suspense for a very long time which in a way it did but it made me grow impatient. I’m happy to have read this book and I would recommend it for anyone into thriller and mystery. 

I must warn you that this content has bullying, intended murder, religion talk, and sex. I hope I’m not forgetting anything else. Thusly, I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

** spoiler alert **
           The first 200something pages are so awesome and it’s hard to put it down. You’re so intrigued by these dominoes constantly falling. Then it just becomes an absolute MESS. Every single thriller trope is tossed in and you get so caught up in world building and nonsense that the story isn’t carrying. The ending was also just awful. Nothing like Catholic guilt followed by the most extreme form of Catholic punishment. The twists also didn’t serve the story and were there to be shocking, and nothing else. 3 stars for the excellent writing and for how quickly I consumed the beginning. The potential was there but not carried out for me.

Imaginary Friend

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