I think my mama always knew I was going to be a little bit off. When I was a kid, my favorite music artist was Alice Cooper. I listened to his Welcome to My Nightmare album on repeat in my room. I was very much afraid of blood and gore, but monsters and all things spooky were right up my alley. And then, there was Diana.
Diana was my height with blonde hair cut into a bob with a red headband. Her skin was a little darker than mine. She wore red sundresses with a white belt. She was my very best friend who went everywhere with me.
Then, one day, we got in a fight. I came out of my room a little shook. My mama asked what was wrong. I told her that Diana and I were no longer friends. She laughed it off and told me she was sure we would work it out. I shook my head and said that it wouldn’t happen this time, because Diana was dead. I threw her out the window and she was impaled on the pole of the basketball hoop beneath my bedroom.
Diana was imaginary, obviously. That story is not.
I hadn’t thought about her in a long time, but the memories came flooding back when I picked up Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky.
Spoiler-Free Synopsis
Imaginary Friend follows a little boy named Christopher, a sweet single child to a single parent. They are on the run from his mom’s ex-boyfriend, and end up in the little town of Mill Grove. Things are a little strained at first as he gets adjusted to his new school. It’s hard for him to make friends and he’s falling behind in his classes. One day, while waiting for his mom to come pick him up, he sees a cloud in the sky that looks like a face. It beacons him to the woods. When he comes back out three days later, he’s…different. He passes his tests with flying colors. Reading is no longer a struggle. And he knows things about people, things he shouldn’t know, like how his teacher is an alcoholic, and how his bully is forced to sleep in the doghouse outside when he gets in trouble with his mother. Try as he might, he can’t remember what happened to him those three days he was lost in the woods, only that the nice man helped him get out. That, and that he needs to go back to build a tree house before Christmas. Otherwise something horrible will happen to the town.
Imaginary friend has so many twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Just when you think you have it figured out, BAM, Chbosky flips you upside down and leads you down another path you didn’t see before. There is so much twisted, truly fucked up imagery in this book that aims to terrify, and goddamn does it deliver.
Horror to Littles
I think what made this book work is not only Chbosky’s writing style, but the fact that the vast majority of it takes place from the point of view of a seven year old. It makes him that much more vulnerable. It’s so easy to remember being that age when all the monsters are real, where you let your imagination run wild until you convince yourself that there really is something in the closet, you can see it right there, even though your parents tell you there’s nothing there.
I love horror stories from a child’s point of view because it works so well. It’s the same reason why I thought the first It movie was scarier than the second chapter. The first chapter was all monsters and gore and made me remember what it was to be scared. The second chapter was all adult fears, which while scary in their own right, don’t hold a fucking candle to the fears we have as children.
Final Thoughts
Arbitrary rating system time! This gets a solid 10/10 from me. It was a fast read, even though it sits pretty at 706 pages—that’s with tiny print! I loved Stephen Chbosky’s writing style, and I plan on reading his other book The Perks of Being a Wallflower even though it’s not horror and not something I would normally gravitate toward. If it’s even half as good as Imaginary Friend, I know I’ll love it. His style is that good. I haven’t felt this scared reading a book in a long, long time. I lowkey want them to make a movie off this baby, if only so I can see the mailbox people on the big screen, and that final showdown?? Chef’s kiss.
Manda Kay Writes 