The American writer Stephen Chbosky is best known for his teenage novel «The Perks of Being a Wallflower» and its film adaptation of the same name, where the author was the screenwriter. In general, he is more involved in the film industry, writing screenplays, etc. But in 2019, the writer released his second book, «Imaginary Friend», which became a New York Times bestseller. It is about this book that we will talk about today in the updated edition from the «Ridna Myslova» publishing house.
Author Stephen Chbosky
Translators Liudmyla Khlivna, Anatolii Khlivnyi
Publisher «Native language» (Native language)
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 704
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 150×225 mm
Website ridna-mova.com
Seven-year-old boy Christopher Reese and his mother Kate are running away from their mother’s last boyfriend, who used to beat her. They arrive in the small town of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, surrounded by woods. It’s a classic American quiet province, where people live in one big community, support each other, but everyone has their own problems and skeletons in the closet.
Kate finds a job at a local boarding house, and Christopher goes to school, where he makes both new friends and enemies. The boy has dyslexia, so it is difficult for him to learn in general and especially to read. One day, when Christopher’s mother is a little late from work to pick him up after school, he enters the nearby forest and disappears for six days.
Later, when they find him, he doesn’t remember anything, but his dyslexia disappears, and he gains not only new knowledge, but also an understanding of people and their thoughts, etc. Christopher also has a new imaginary friend who asks him to build a house in a tree in the forest. He says that the fate of the world depends on it.
As you can see, «Imaginary Friend» by Stephen Chbosky starts out as a typical story from Stephen King, as I mentioned above. A boy and his mother, without a father, a small American town with its own secrets and many characters that we will definitely be introduced to, something strange and paranormal is happening.
On the one hand, I don’t want to label it and mention Mr. King, but on the other hand, it’s really very similar to the novels of the King of Horror, so why not say so right away. Only «An Imaginary Friend» radiates more emotion, with more detailed descriptions and a detailed story about many characters. But surprisingly, despite all these clarifications and details, the book reads cheerfully and with interest.
Stephen Chbosky has achieved this with short chapters and vivid description. He also has a great understanding of people and their emotions, so he creates interesting secondary characters who are not boring to follow. This also applies to Christopher and his mom. They and some other characters important to the plot are three-dimensional and rapidly establish contact with the reader, evoking maximum empathy.
The writer knows how to create suspense and make the characters, and the reader, feel uneasy out of the blue. At first, it seems that Christopher is crazy, then we see the transformation of the character and the story itself into something deeper and more fantastic, and at about 80%, the plot abruptly changes direction and throws out an unexpected twist.
Speaking of the general style of the novel, for an even better understanding, «Imaginary Friend» can be compared to the series «Stranger Things». Because this project was clearly inspired by the aesthetics of the 80s and the works of Stephen King. Stephen Chbosky does the same in his novel. Only under the seemingly familiar wrapper, the reader will find a multilayered story about motherhood and the love of parents for children and children for parents. Also, one of the main themes that runs through the novel like a thick red line is religion and Christianity.
Stephen Chbosky definitely has a talent for storytelling because he was able to write a novel of 704 pages (this is in smaller type because the first edition was under 900) and keep me in suspense, interested, etc. But I’ve heard more than once that some readers find the story too long at the end. I don’t entirely agree with this, but I admit that some descriptive moments and events with the characters are sometimes repeated and could either be skipped or presented in a slightly different way. That is, at best, the book could have been 50 pages shorter.
Also, in the reviews of «Imaginary Friend», there is often dissatisfaction with the author’s excessive moralizing. I don’t agree with this at all and don’t understand where it comes from. Perhaps people don’t realize that good novels have depth, that authors put a lot of different meanings, their thoughts, worldviews, etc. into them. Is there all this in a novel? Of course, it does. Just like in any other work by any writer.
In Stephen King’s books, we see his views on life and even politics, his attitude to certain things, people, etc. The same can be said about the novel «Imaginary Friend». Of course, the author’s views, preferences, and so on can be traced here.
The book also shows this overwhelming love of parents for their children, which can literally do anything. As a father, this is very familiar to me, and I often found myself comparing my son, who is also seven years old now, to Christopher, and Christopher to my son. It turns out that I empathized with him more because I am a father because I know certain things that he describes, and because I was also once a seven-year-old boy.
Against the backdrop of supernatural and fantastic events, the author builds a simple and familiar story in which children face great difficulties, and parents help them and simply want to protect their children from suffering. It is so familiar and vital that it touches almost everyone.
The updated edition of the novel «Imaginary Friend» itself is well done and attracts attention. I liked the picture on the cover, which very accurately conveys the essence of the events. The yellow paper is also pleasant to the touch and the font is slightly smaller. The novel is very large, so they tried to make it smaller in this way. Unfortunately, there is no lace.
