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I generally avoid really long books. There are not enough hours in the day to enjoy all the books on my wishlist anyway, and long books require too much attention. In the interest of cleaning out my Netgalley shelf, I decided to tackle Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. Wow! This book blew my expectations out of the water.

Make no mistake, this book really was a behemoth. I’m typically not a fan of horror novels, but I had to force myself to put this one down at night. It drew me in and wouldn’t let me go! Imaginary Friends reminded me of Stranger Things and IT — in the very best ways possible. I could even see some traces of C. S. Lewis in these pages.

Be warned, too, that this story contains content that could be triggers for many readers. Abuse, violence, missing children, and religious themes run strong. There was a lot of profanity, and some of the scenes reminded me of nightmares. Readers are sure to feel twinges from the emotional pain and suffering that characters endured. There are so many feel good moments, though. I loved the main characters Christopher and his mom, Kate. The side characters played important roles, too.

Some of the reviews for this book were less than stellar, but I decided to give it a try anyway. So glad I did! It ranks as one of my favorites. This story makes me think about the world differently.