Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

 Imaginary Friend book summary:

Imaginary Friend follows seven-year-old Christopher. He struggles with certain subjects in school and struggles to make friends. It doesn’t help that he’s the new kid in town. On top of that, he has an imaginary friend to compensate. His mother, Kate Reese, moved them to this new area in hopes of getting away from her abusive husband. She doesn’t want Christopher anywhere near that. At first, this little area draws them in. It’s tightknit and off the grid. The town is small and everyone knows everyone. It’s perfect. That is until Christopher disappears for about a week and comes back different. What happened to Christopher during that entire time?

What I thought of Imaginary Friend:

Imaginary Friend is beyond creepy. A certain creepiness that I haven’t really seen in other books. It is extremely detailed to a point that you are able to see Christopher’s world. You can imagine The Nice Man and The Hissing Lady. You can also imagine their battles and Christopher’s point of view while in the imaginary world. There are parts of this book that could have been omitted but I kind of understand why Stephen included all that he did. Without most of the information that was included, you wouldn’t be able to understand what exactly happens with the real world and the imaginary world and how easily people can be manipulated.

When the book first came out I read a review about how someone thought that Christopher was a little too smart. I won’t get into detail about it but there’s a reason why he ends up as smart as he is. If you’re planning on reading this book then you kind of need to overlook this. Honestly, I really ended up liking Christopher’s character. I love his mom even more! His mom is a really kick-butt woman and I’m really glad that Stephen made her the way that she was.

I do kind of wish that Christian elements were left out of this book. To me, it felt like Stephen didn’t exactly know how he wanted to end it so he brings Christianity into the mix.

With the way, things ended I really hope that there is a sequel. It could be left as is but I kind of want to know what happens. Does the imaginary world make its way back?

What do you guys think about small town horror?

If you like this review then make sure to check out my review for Children of Chicago.