Imaginary Friend

Score: 3/5 Bookmarks

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky left me with mixed feelings. I liked the relationship between the main character, Christopher, and his mother Kate and it was interesting to learn more about the backstories of the supporting characters in the book and the things they keep hidden. But, there were a lot of things that really bugged me throughout the book (more on those below). It could easily have been cut down to half its length (it’s 720 pages long) and had much better pacing with less repetition. I also didn’t find it to be nearly as suspenseful as I’d hoped, but much more bizarre than I was expecting. I would definitely place it in the horror category rather than thriller or suspense.

I will say that the audiobook narration was excellent, and Christine Lakin certainly added to the creepiness of this book, with her voices and sound effects. I can still hear her haunting ‘creeaaak’ sounds in my ears.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read the book and are planning to, you might want to look away now. If not, then keep reading my friend.

There were more than several occasions where I found myself thinking ‘what the hell did I just read’ (pun intended). By the 1/3 mark I was hoping that all the bizarre happenings were going to resolve in some sort of logical way. Maybe they’d discover that Cristopher had a brain tumor, or perhaps the whole thing was a crazy nightmare. But to have it all be a weird heaven and hell tale with things left largely unresolved really bugged me. I still have so many questions!

What was with the name ‘mailbox people’? I still don’t understand that one full, having finished the book.

And why continue to call the devil ‘the nice man’ even once Christopher knows exactly who he is.

And why is Eve called the ‘hissing lady’ and why can she never speak properly, and why does the road burn her?

And what’s the deal with Mary Catherine’s immaculate conception? And is it actually God’s or the Devil’s? I’m still not clear on that. And what was the purpose of that whole storyline?

If you’ve read the book, I’d love to know your thoughts. Maybe you can shed some light on the questions that are lingering for me.

And if you’ve come this far, haven’t read the book, but would like to, may I suggest the audiobook. Libro.fm has a three-for-one deal when you use this link: libro.fm or you can get the physical copy via the button below.

Synopsis:

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 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.