Tag Archives: horror

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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Horror/Thriller Book Club March Pick: The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling

9 Apr

March’s read for the Hoboken Public Library’s Horror/Thriller book club was part unhinged, grotesque imagery, and unreliable sanity. The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling enticed our group with its synopsis hindering the instinctual defenses to survive at any cost.

Book cover for The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling. The design features a pale, textured background with a classical stone archway. Above the arch is a statue of a woman leaning and with her head tilted. Inside the arch is a red, window opening with a dark silhouette of a person standing. The title appears in large red lettering at the top, and the author’s name is written at the bottom.

When you have perhaps one last thread to save your existence, in this case an experimental medical procedure that destroys your immune system so that it can be rebuilt, how many of us would be tempted not to take the risk? That’s the moral conundrum that ticks on every page. 

When that primal instinct comes in play, for me that’s what truly makes the horror genre great, and Caitlin Starling blends an unreliable narrator mixed with imagery and angst of the COVID-19 pandemic all left to fester in a petri dish of suffering and sly corporate slouthing and conniving. 

Some parts are slow, the protagonist gets too in the weeds with her thoughts and her second guessing sometimes goes over the top. Then again, if walls were coming alive and floors eating people all mixed with the hospital living, breathing, and speaking to me, I’d probably be this way, too. 

Margaret (Meg) Carpenter has a severe  immune disorder that has destroyed her insides, allowing her to do very little and maintain almost no relationships (personal and professional). Her life is falling apart and she’s destitute. She will latch onto anything, including her nurses and the nightly cleaning crew. 

My heart was strung tight for the majority of this book, but it also somehow found a way to be thankful – thankful for what hospital staff and the medical community must endure to keep us safe – the terror of dealing with patients that are so sick or in desperate positions that they morph the world around them. 

In the end, it’s a radical commentary on the blending of medical ethics and extreme treatment that blurs the line of how far we may be willing to go in our loss of agency to save our lives.

Interested in the Horror/Thriller Book Club? Please email reference@hobokenlibrary.org, or register for our next meeting by searching under Events on our website.

Have you read The Graceview Patient? What did you think? Comment below.

You can reserve it in the BCCLS system here, or access the ebook and audiobook on Hoopla.

Hit subscribe to get more Hoboken Public Library Staff Picks delivered to your inbox!

Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

Tags: ,

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