Book Review: Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

 

Goodreads Summary: Christopher is seven years old. Christopher is the new kid in town. Christopher has an imaginary friend. The epic work of literary horror from the #1 bestselling author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

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, 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.

Goodreads Ratings: 3.54 stars with over 44,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy, Adult Fiction, Paranormal

Goodreads Challenge: 15/30

2023 Reading Challenge: #37 Read a book over 600 pages (find the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hello, Readers! I'm going to just jump right into it with this review. No life changes since my last review two days ago, except that I probably had some snacks and a nap like the giant toddler I am. Sometime last year, I saw the book Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky being discussed in the various book groups I follow, and I decided to pick it up when it was on sale. I like horror; I just don't read nearly enough of it. This seemed like it might have the potential to be somewhat scary. Unfortunately, I don't get scared that easily when it comes to reading.

This review is going to need a disclaimer. If you have any triggers while reading, I do not recommend reading this book. The list of trigger warnings is way too long to list. If you have specific ones you are concerned about, by all means, comment or reach out to the other contact options on the blog. I'm more than happy to assist. 

Going into this book, I did not know it was 700 pages long. I probably wouldn't have read it if I had known that. I have to mentally prepare myself to read anything over 500 pages. The story was interesting enough to make me want to find out what happened, but through most of it, I was just ready to be done with it. It became very close to being a 'Did not finish' for me. The only reason it wasn't is that I was already around 400 pages in when thinking about it. 

I try to be constructive in my reviews when I don't care for a book. I know that authors work hard on their stories, and I don't want it to appear like I am attacking them. That is one hundred percent, not my intent. I also try not to spoil a book, but I can't make any guarantees about that with this book.

We'll start with the good: I thought it was a unique concept, and Christopher and his mother were likable characters. I also liked how descriptive it was with the setting and scenery.

What almost made this a DNF for me was that it drug on for what felt like forever. I was curious to see what would happen but was bored waiting to get there. The descriptions were somewhat creepy, but I never felt scared or creeped out while reading. Reading a few more chapters and finishing the book almost became a chore. 

In addition to the story dragging on and on, the book switched gears from this creepy thriller to a super preachy religious tale about halfway through. It felt really out of place and led to some big philosophical epiphany that was trying too hard to be clever. I will fully admit to being a religionless heathen. I don't mind reading about it; however, I actually find the history of religions interesting. However, had I known I was getting a half-baked sermon on acid, I probably wouldn't have picked the book up. 

For me, this is a one-star. I'm sure others may love it and think it's great. If this sounds like your thing, by all means, read it. It has a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads. This is just not for me, and I genuinely feel like I wasted almost a month having it open on my kindle.