A review by cryptidenthusiast
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Well that got really weird towards the end. 

EDIT:
Okay so after sitting with this book for a bit longer, I dropped my review from a 3 to a 1.5. The initial premise was good, if a little bit stereotypical: kid is listening to a voice of his “imaginary friend” that turns out to be more sinister then originally thought. 

Further into act 3 though, things went absolutely off the rails, and took a severe nose drive. 

The sudden religious spin was unneeded and unnecessary, and did the book more harm then good. We figure out the ‘Nice Man’ is actually Satan? And this is where I personally hated it. Depicting two characters dealing with addiction as ‘the devil whispering in their ear’? Or a literal child wanting to lash out and hurt the person sexually assaulting her is her ‘giving in to the devil’? I don’t know, it just left a very sour taste in my mouth the longer I thought about it. There’s enough demonization of addiction and mental illness out there, we didn’t need more. And damning a child who’s being assaulted because she wanted to hurt her abuser back? Not a great look. 

Also the entire thing with Mary Katherine?? Her final arc is her coming to the realization that thinking of a “sin” is not equal to actually committing it…..but she IS pregnant. By thinking about sex? Which just negates everything she learns?
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