Amigo imaginário

Well, that's the last time I pick a book up blindly because a booktuber that I like said she loved it. So to be quite frank it was my fault for choosing to read a book that was not at all my cup of tea but I can't say I didn't enjoy it whatsoever so I am giving it three stars. It was a well written and developed book but it was just too out there for me and so far from any realm of possibility or reality that it was hard for me to take this book seriously and I forced myself to get through it because I have a hard time DNFing books. Plus, I am one of those people who likes to venture outside of her comfort zone so I gave it a chance and just because it was not for me I could see others loving it who are more into fantasy and probably have bigger imaginations than me because I have none.

Imaginary Friend is about a boy who moves into a new town with his mother, who is running away from an abusive relationship and how things start to go crazy after he goes into the woods and is missing for six days after. The plot itself sounded interesting enough to me but was a lot more than I bargained for. I thought it would be more rooted in reality but it was so fantastical that I had a hard time imagining all the weird happenings and growing attached to the characters in these impossible situations. I think I will be taking a long break from horror after this and will be sticking to my more realistic thrillers that seem more plausible and just touch me differently.

Further on, the characterization was probably the strongest point in this book and even though I rolled my eyes a lot at what was happening, I still found myself worried and stressing for all of the different personalities in this book and rooting for them to come out on top. They all had their quirks and flaws and I loved seeing how they all struggled in life one way or another because a lot of times we find ourselves wishing we had someone else's life without knowing what that person is actually going through themselves. I just wish the fantastical aspect would have been toned down just a bit and I would have grown attached to the characters even more but they ended up remaining at a distance to me.

Thirdly, the writing was problematic for me. I have been wanting to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower ever since watching the movie but I will not be doing that anymore because the writing was too much to stomach for me. There were too many descriptions and elongated sentences and they in turn took something away from the actual story in my opinion. There were a lot of instances where I had to go back and reread sentences to make sure I wasn't missing something crucial or significant from it. The overwhelming writing style along with an overly action-packed plot made for one difficult novel for me to finish. Also, what was done in 700 pages could have easily been done in 500 or less and would have been a lot more impactful.

In conclusion, I realize that I am probably not the right reader for this novel but even so there were too many issues that I had with it and had to force myself to get through it so I could move onto other novels. Putting the lack of reality aside, this novel was nothing but overwhelming in every sense of the word and I will not be recommending it to anyone in the near future. It could make a good tv show I think but too many things are up for interpretation and there's nothing much concrete to hold onto at all. For people who love thrillers like me and even horror based more in realism, I would advise you skip this one and save yourself the time of reading a 700 page novel.