Wow. I hadn’t been this excited for a book in a very long time, folks. Author Stephen Chbosky wrote my favorite book of all time, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. However, Perks came out in 1999, and for a long time it was Chbosky’s only novel he had ever written. So, when I heard that he was returning 20 years later with a new book, I got so excited. I also had weird feelings going into this book, though, because this is an example of a really strange turn for an author. Imaginary Friend is not even in the same category as Perks, so I knew not to expect a similar experience. Where Perks was a short, 200-page story about an introvert trying to find himself in a relatable coming-of-age story, Imaginary Friend is a long, 700-page epic horror novel. Definitely quite the switch, and so I want to at least make sure that’s addressed if anyone else had interest in this novel purely because it’s a new novel by Chbosky.

Anyway, so what is it all about? Basically, the novel opens with mother Kate Reese escaping in the middle of the night from her abusive boyfriend. She and her son Christopher drive far away and land in a small town in Pennsylvania. One day, Christopher is drawn towards the Mission Street Woods, where he follows a voice that’s guiding him along. Christopher ends up going missing for six days, and when he returns he’s changed. Where he was previously dyslexic, now he can read a book in a night. He starts to ace all of his tests in school. He even begins to start hearing people’s thoughts. And so, little does he know that he’s about to take part in a giant war going on in the imaginary world, which starts bleeding out into our own.

I think the book has a really compelling premise, and it had me hooked pretty early on. It’s really effective storytelling, and ends up crafting an intrigue where I wanted to know what was happening next. I also thought Chbosky really flexed his writing chops here, creating a book that’s really effective in creating an atmosphere of horror. I was really impressed by how he was able to create a book that was a totally different beast from his previous endeavor.

So, Imaginary Friend was on track to becoming another new favorite of mine, ranking up there with Perks. But then…a plot twist happens about three-quarters of the way through the book, and from here on the book totally lost me. This is one of those really upsetting twists, because in my opinion it made no sense from a storytelling perspective, and ruined a lot of the goodwill I was having towards the book. It’s always really upsetting when something like this happens, because I think the book had a really good thing going, but then it ruined it by having a bad twist. This is the ultimate disappointment for me with Imaginary Friend. I obviously wanted to love this book, but it ultimately left a sour taste in my mouth after this.

However, at the end of the day, I still think Imaginary Friend is mostly a good book, since that’s my only big complaint about it. The only other complaint I have is a bit more minor. After this twist happens, there’s a character that tAlkS liKe tHIs, and I understand why Chbosky chose to write his dialogue this way, but it ultimately became more distracting than anything.

The saving grace that I think Imaginary Friend has is that while I thought its big twist failed on a storytelling level, I thought it worked fantastically on a conceptual and thematic level, which is why I understand why Chbosky chose to do it in the first place. I’ve read other reviews where the themes presented in the last quarter of the book turned a lot of people off because it’s a lot of Christian imagery and allegory, but I personally thought it was really interesting. I won’t say anything past that to avoid spoilers, but I thought it all worked really well in that regard.

The other thing that’s really strong about Imaginary Friend is that it has a really great cast of characters. Christopher and his mother Kate are both really fantastic protagonists, but there is also a great selection of side characters, including Christopher’s friends, his bullies, an old man who’s dealing with the guilt of his younger brother dying 50 years ago, and an ultra-religious teenage girl who is always terrified that God’s going to send her to Hell for everything she thinks or does. While Christopher is definitely the main character of the book, there are tons of chapters that also switch viewpoints to these other characters, and I found them to be a really interesting cast. Chbosky did a great job of crafting memorable characters in Perks, and that ability still shines through in Imaginary Friend.

In the end, Imaginary Friend is a frustrating book to review. I think the first 500 or so pages are fantastic. But then the last 200 ruin a lot of that, and so it becomes a book that’s harder to recommend. It’s not like the last 200 pages are a total waste, either, since there’s a lot that does still work in them. I think the book has some excellent characters, scares, and themes found within, and for most of the book it’s a really intriguing and well-crafted experience. However, it is definitely a bit too long, and so after the book pulled its big twist, I just wanted it to be over. This is the kind of book where it’s hard to give a definitive score, because I feel so conflicted on it. Ultimately, I’m giving it the score I’m giving it because I do consider it to MOSTLY be a good book. However, I acknowledge that it ended up feeling like a disappointment by the end of it, and so I want it to be known that for me, this easily could have been a perfect score if not for the decisions that were made towards the end. I guess that I would still recommend it to anyone that’s interested in it, but I just think you need to make sure you’re prepared for a possible disappointing twist if you choose to take the journey on this long story. So, take that however you may. While the end might have disappointed me, I am still glad I took the time to read the book, and even more so I’m glad to have gotten a new book from a great author.

4/5