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Dark, Cosmic, Childhood Horror: Stephen Chbosky’s Imaginary Friend (2019).

23 Apr

I wasn’t expecting this from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. At 700+ pages, it tested me, but the story’s morality and visceral battles really kept me going.

Cover of Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. The title appears in large, scratched, white letters against a dark background. At the center, a small silhouette of a child stands at the base of a glowing tree with a ladder leading up into its branches. The scene is dimly lit, with scattered leaves in a shadowy forest. In the middle-right the top right, smaller text reads “Author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

It starts with a simple question: What if a lonely boy befriends a cloud and follows it everywhere?

Seven-year-old Christopher and his mother, Kate, move to the small town of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, hoping for a fresh start, but Christopher then gets lost in the woods for six days. He’s found but changed – smart beyond his grade level and able to hear the voice of the Nice Man. Together, they build a treehouse.

But the Nice Man isn’t, and the treehouse isn’t the innocent plaything it should be.

This loneliness and willingness to cling to anything really drove the horror for me. It becomes very clear Christopher is being manipulated, but his (and his Mother’s) world is such a struggle that when terrible things come, I could not help but think, ‘aw, well, at least he has a friend.’ And in a crazy way, I found myself semi-rooting for the Nice Man.

Imaginary Friend evolves into cosmic psychological terror with a religious twist reminiscent of TV’s Lost. Stephen King’s It and The Stand come to mind for novels.

Chbosky examines good and evil, belief, childhood trauma, and the power of imagination to reshape reality.

Is Christopher’s voice a guardian or a manipulator? Is his imagination fully corrupted, or does innocence remain?

The relationship between Christopher and his mother is super emotional, too. They’ve escaped abuse, and because of this, their bond is heavy, so when Kate begins to realize she’s losing her son, the heartache feels so sad.

The climax goes really big. Some might find it audacious, while others might find it overwritten, where the subgenres of Psychological and Cosmic Horror perhaps mix too much, and to some might come off as preachy. Chbosky does dive into Christian imagery.

Imaginary Friend felt genuinely dark, not a jump-scare horror, but one that stayed with me throughout. It was both uncomfortable and comforting.

Have you read Imaginary Friend? What did you think? Comment below.

You can reserve it in the BCCLS system here, or access the audiobook on Libby.

Horror fan and interested in the Hoboken Library’s Horror/Thriller Book Club? Please email reference@hobokenlibrary.org, or register for our next meeting by searching under Events on our website.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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Fabulous Fantasies: West of Wicked and A Master of Djinn

21 Apr

West of Wicked
by Nikki St. Crowe
West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe is the first in The Great and Terrible Land series. The second in the series East of Envy will be out in November. The story is a darker and spicier spin on The Wizard of Oz that should appeal to fans of Wicked. Dorothy was abandoned as a young child at a Kansas farm by a loving couple, but she never quite fit in. Now all grown up she is questioning whether to accept the marriage proposal from a handsome friend, when a tornado takes her to a mysterious, gloomy land. She encounters a gorgeous stranger hung up like a scarecrow and a variety of other familiar and new characters as she journeys to find the Wizard. The story is told from multiple perspective which gives a unique perspective on the world and its inhabitants many of whom including Dorothy are hiding intriguing secrets.

A Master of Djinn
by P. Djeli Clark
A Master of Djinn is a spectacular steampunk adventure set in Egypt in 1912 that had plenty of twists and turns that surprised and enthralled me. So often in the past when I would see Egypt depicted in fantasies, it would focus on archeologists and tomb raiders, this story stars Egyptians themselves which gives an insider view of the action that takes place. This was P. Djeli Clark’s first full length novel, but there are additional prequels in this series you can check out, if you enjoy this story. Fatma el-Sha’arawi works for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. She is surprised (and not particularly overjoyed) when she learns she has been assigned a partner, but she will need all the help she can get when she investigates a secret brotherhood dedicated to a famous historic figure, Al-Jahiz, who had first brought the magical into our realm.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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