Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

50 reviews

raichoreads's review

dark slow-paced

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

0.25

I honestly didn’t know I could hate a book this much. The first few hours of this book are pretty engaging. And then things start to get really tense with the madness in the town rising and Christopher’s growing power - and then it just doesn’t end. This book goes on for waaaaaay too long and it just made me resentful of every aspect of it. I started to get annoyed with all of the pointless self referential diction. I got annoyed anytime there was an unnecessary sentence. I started listening at 2x speed and it still wasn’t over fast enough. Get an editor.

Rapid fire content complaints: The strange religious turn this book makes is bizarre and out of place. The female characters in this book spend much too much of their time being victimized by men or feeling pre-occupied by their relationships (whereas the men in this story do not). There are way too many side characters who are never mentioned again who speak in “broken English” and who the white voice actor puts on accents for. There’s just a lot of annoying white man story writing choices here. Also the “psychosis is a death sentence” mentality so supremely frustrating and demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of mental illness and what living with psychosis is like (doesn’t make people inherently violent or suicidal - shocker)

The .25 stars here are for Mary-Catherine’s arc. And while most of the female characters do feel very written by a man, the way Kate is written feels like a little boy’s love letter to his working class mom. There’s a few good emotional nuggets in here.

It takes Christopher WAY too long to realize he’s in hell and I’m so annoyed that the hissing lady is Eve. And okay so Eve tells God she’s sorry for what she did and he says “I know. I’m sorry too.” And honestly that pissed me off because it still insinuates that Eve did anything wrong (when it felt like Mary-Catherine’s tirade suggested she didn’t??) Also the book ends with a suggestion to the second coming of Christ???? Wild choice bro.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Racism and Vomit

Racism is tagged cuz of the racist side characters.

emma_lynne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Abortion, and War

agarrett88's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Car accident, and War

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.

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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

bookbeetlebabe's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape

lraronson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jordynjohnson's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I really, really enjoyed this book. The world was so immersive, dark and thought provoking and I found myself feeling so upset for Christopher and his mother.

I was so shocked with the twist that the Nice Man was actually the bad guy and the Hissing Lady was the one trying to help everyone.

The themes were really confronting but it was definitely a worthwhile read. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job, her performance was really moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Suicide

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

sarahbethhh's review

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. 

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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

lokidotter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, and Murder