Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

32 reviews

emysonne's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

bugferbrains's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think one of the best feelings in the world is getting to the end of a book, putting it back on the shelf, and being able to say to yourself, “I finished that one”. It feels like earning a paycheck. Longer books can be difficult for me to get through for this reason, and sometimes I’ll pause what I’m reading to get through something shorter, just to give myself that little zing of accomplishment. However, Imaginary Friend roped me in so much that I sat through all 706 pages without touching anything else. 

I’m seeing a lot of more negative reviews, and I totally understand why. This thing is LONG. It’s repetitive, but for me it wasn’t unbearably so. It helped keep things cohesive and there was enough variation in the repeating themes and visual imagery to keep things interesting while not becoming boring. I kept asking myself, “what is the metaphor or story connection behind this thing?”, which helped to keep my attention, and it made every small detail feel incredibly important and deliberate. It’s also got heavy Christian/religious themes, which I understand, too, that that can be jarring and upsetting when there’s not a single thing in its synopsis that points towards that. If you picked it up because you thought it would be a neat ghost story, or something else classically paranormal, it would totally throw you off. I’m lucky in the fact that I happen to be a spiritual person and wasn’t stuck on wanting to read a spooky, paranormal book at the time I started it, so while I was hoping for a ghost story, I was pleasantly surprised to read about faith struggles (which I’m always a sucker for, no matter how the struggle ends) and commentary on Christianity, both its ugly and beautiful side. It hit me really hard because of it. 

It happened to fall into my lap at the right time of my life, echoing some of my own thoughts and feelings about Christianity, its followers, and how we should live and treat others, while also sharing some new ideas with me. At its core, it’s a story about love, hope, and the idea that no one is too far gone from being saved (I don’t mean that religiously). That there is potential for good in everyone, no matter how far it’s been squashed down, that can rise with compassion and the right conditions. I know not every follower believes this, but it resonates deeply with me. 

I could go on and on about how deeply I fell in love with the characters, how incredible a relationship the main mother and son have, how much I wish I could hug Mary Katherine, how much I really enjoyed the big twist, the way the writing shifts in style for each character….. Ugh, chef’s kiss. I was worried after the last two reads I had that I’d be on a crappy book streak, but this one was like a breath of fresh air. I’m not usually interested in coming of age stories, but if this is how Stephen Chbosky normally writes I might have to give Perks of Being a Wallflower a chance. Wonderful work!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Infertility, Torture, Islamophobia, and Pregnancy

pacccii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

It's a magnificent and attention grabbing book! I was hooked immediately and throughout the read (even if it took me a couple of years to finish). Never a dull moment, and very nice plot twists at points. 

However, towards the end it got a bit preachy, which made me give it such a low rating. I am not looking to read about "God" or find salvation when I read fiction, but that's my opinion.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

legbascrossroad's review against another edition

Interesting, compelling characters and a well worn but solid set-up fall apart into a slog through hundreds of pages of "The Power Of God's Love Saves All!" 

Somewhere around a quarter of the way in I had the suspicion I was being proselytized to. A third of the way the author decides to repeatedly remind us that schools have to say WINTER HOLIDAY now when everyone really knows it's CHRISTMAS and I was getting annoyed. Halfway through and any attempts at subtlety had been thrown out the window in favor of literal immaculate conception and martyrdom. At this point I had to look up spoilers and see if there was any redeeming it, and no, it only gets worse. Unless you're specifically looking for a Christian novel, avoid this like the plague and read something else. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

dizible's review against another edition

2.5

I was so enamoured with the first maybe 2/3rds of this book, the characters were so loveable and the spooky elements were so interesting. But this thing just took such an incredible nosedive in quality towards the end, for the last at least 300 pages I was just pleading with the author to write an ending already. The religious elements that started appearing were so heavy handed and lacked any nuance, when we read the first chapter from Mary Katherine’s perspective I genuinely thought she was some kind of a joke character. There was also just constant repetition of phrases and descriptions, a lot of them that weren’t even that good to begin with. 

I’d recommend reading maybe half of this and then just use your own imagination to fill in the rest, I guarantee it’ll be better than what’s actually written.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

itsessbee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Character study meets thriller meets religious exploration. The first half seemed to drag, but paid off in the end. Incredibly creepy imagery. Check trigger warnings before reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

audalia's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Death, Incest, and Pedophilia

finn_vibing's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Dementia, Sexual harassment, and War

theimposter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rcd229's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Torture

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, and Miscarriage