Obtain Immediately Imaginary Girls Outlined By Nova Ren Suma Supplied As Hardbound

Girls leaves me feeling the way I did after seeing Donnie Darko and Virgin Suicides for the first time ever, Picture me utterly confused at times but mostly unnerved and slightly creeped out, Donnie Darko is my favorite 'WTF was that movie' while Virgin Suicides was my first 'how sad but twisted' one, That Imaginary Girls had me feeling both things sometimes simultaneously is quite a feat, Needless to say, Imaginary Girls is different, . . and I liked it.

Who else has come across those posts on manic pixies Ruby is almost like one of those except she's so much more, Yes, she's the beautiful, mysterious girl and has everyone enamored with her, But there's something more sinister to her, I kept waiting and waiting for the book to reveal precisely what had my skin crawling but what she was is never clearly defined, One thing is certain though, she isn't one dimensional, And if I had to label her the villain, I'd hesitate to do so, She simply loved to deeply and completely and in the end selflessly.


At it's core it's a love story but not a romantic one, It's a love between sisters that's slightly definitely skewed and a bit overly dependent, . . on both sides. Where Chloe is the younger sister grown used to what her older sister's decisions and whims are, Ruby, the older one is defined by her role as protector.
Both of them go overboard and it was fascinating to read,

With all that, there were still boys, no men, to consider, Men who're so in love with the idea of Ruby, It was disturbing to read, . . but I could not tear myself from it, I think the best thing about this aspect of the story was Owen, I'd dreaded the moment when Chloe would turn out like her sister, But the minute something along those lines did happen, well it was a great moment, Because instead of a "love conquers all" thing, there's a dimming of brightness for both, What he thinks of her has changed and vice versa, Definitely, these were not simple characters,

Goodness me! I really enjoyed reading this, and I really like that I find myself struggling to define what kind of read it was.
It's different and dark. With the way it started, I had no idea where I'd end up,

READ THIS!
/ Let me just get this out of the way from the start Im really not sure how I feel about this book.


The evocative, eerie, captivating writing which is somehow, at the same time, simple in its wording, is not dissimilar to the style of Margo Lanagan.


The way this book made me feel queasy and annoyed, while still making it impossible to put the book down, was not dissimilar to Margos books.



And I usually find myself feeling a very similar mix of emotions after reading one of Margos stories,
Shoujo commented when I finished the book and asked if I loved it, I didnt know what to tell her, but if Margos books are any kind of judge, when the smoke clears, I will, Absolutely. Without a doubt.



This is a tale about obsession, and about the power that older siblings have over younger siblings, told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator.
I loved that about it, I loved the voice of the story, and how the novel itself seemed to dote on Ruby, while I brought my external prejudices to the table, and read a different story to the one that Chloe thought she was telling.




And I do think this is a story best read with as little info as possible, While I have done my best to properly tag, or just avoid spoilers, please consider that before reading on,


Things definitely annoyed me about this book, but not in a “the author did this poorly” way,


Ruby was a spoilt brat and not a likeable person, But, well, I guess if everyone falls under your spell, and the only people who see through it are people who would hang of your every word anyway, you cant HELP but be vile.



Chloe isnt just Rubys little sister, shes her willing slave:

He looked down and wiped more sawdust on his pants.
Then he looked up into my eyes,
”Do you make her breakfast in the morning” I asked,
“Some mornings. ”
“And iced coffee the way she likes it”
“Yeah, sure, Sometimes. ”
“Do you answer the phone when it rings so she doesnt have to Do you make her popcorn on Wednesdays Do you do her laundry and hang out her dresses to dry”

There were times that I really hated Ruby.
Times where I raged at the book, because she had such STRANGE double standards, and I wondered WHY Chloe couldnt see through her,

“At least theres that,” Ruby said, “As for you, Chlo, well talk later, after London drives you home.
Your curfew is midnight. Ive never believed in curfews for myselflike I wouldve listened if our mother gave me one, ” She laughed, sharply, and I held the phone away from my ear as she did, “But,” she went on, and I pulled the phone back, “Ive decided I now believe in

curfews for you, Midnight. ” And at that she cut the line,
And then
”Look at the time, Chlo, ”
I glanced at my cell phone to see that the display read:,
“Its midnight,” I told her,
“No,” she said, “its after midnight, Its twelveohtwo. ”

Sometimes Chloe DOES come close to seeing it

She changed the subject, “Chloe, you should have told me boys were going to be there, You never said anything about any boys being there, ”
“But I didnt know, ” I was utterly confused at how she was actinglike she was tallying up all the things Id done wrong, and Id only gone out without her this one night, and it had been her idea to send me.
Was she being a parent now What would she do next, ground me

But Chloe still lets Ruby call all the shots, make all the rules

”The talk, the one we didnt have last night.
There are things you can and cant do, and we need to talk about them, ” She counted on her fingers, repeating all the things shed already told me, The phone, I shouldnt answer it, I shouldnt leave town, I shouldnt eat raisins in front of her this was new, but I should know that raisins sickened her, and whos to say they dont grow back into grapes once theyre swallowed, I shouldnt go out to the reservoir, she didnt want me smoking even if she sometimes did, no drugs and no drinking, obviously, and she didnt think to highly of Owen and if I wanted to like a boy I should make an effort to find another.

She tells Chloe how to feel

I shook my head she was being silly now,
“I want you to cut this out today,” she said, “That nobody with the bad hair You dont like him anymore, ”
“I dont”
“You dont, I wont let you, ”
She was acting like she could forbid me from having an emotion, She could shove a hand down my throat and wiggle her fingers as far as theyd go, plucking out stuff she didnt want in there, like she did when we got up the courage to clean out last seasons mouldy takeout containers from the fridge.
Shed do it fast, and didnt even hold her nose,
“Good,” she said.

I did not like Ruby at all, and Chloe, being a mostly compliant shadow at Rubys beck and call did not make me like her immensely, either.


I felt sorry for her,

Even at the end of the book I felt sorry for her, She doesnt see how pitiful her situation is,

I understand that she feels lost, and responsible for the fact that Ruby is gone, and I understand that she is a little sister who will always look up to her big sister.
I understand that grief does strange things to people, But at the end of the book, I was left unsure of whether Chloe would EVER move on, Will she waste away in that town, all by herself, without friends, or boyfriends or girlfriends

The novel:

I didnt know what to think about this book as I went in.
I knew next to nothing about it as I read, and there are still some things I am in the dark about at the end.


It started out as a story about two sisters from the wrong side of the tracks, The older, bossy one, who always gets her way, and the younger one who follows in her sisters footsteps,

Ruby, the older, gets everything she wants, and ignores the rules of society, Their mother is an absent drunk, and something happens that results in Chloe, the younger, being sent to live with her dad,

At this stage of the book, it all seems very normal, real world, with the fantastical elements of the older sisters stories creating a bit of a gothic, creepy feel about the reservoir in their home town.

Two years later, the younger comes back, and thats when the shit starts to get WEIRD,



When the weird started happening, an assortment of options for where this was going popped to mind, each as likely as the rest.
One hundred pages from the end of the book, I still really didnt know what to make of it, or where it was going,

I devoured this book, It kept me reading, well past my bedtime, and I NEEDED to know what the end result was going to be,

Part way through, I had a dream that the end was disappointing and, while I dont think it was quite as disappointing as that, I was a little upset with how it ended.


I dont think I can come up with what might have been a more satisfying end, I dont think it was the WRONG ending, it was just Not the ending I was hoping for,

I understand, as this story was told from Chloes POV, we cant know things that she didnt find out, but I would really have liked to know what this special ability of Rubys was, and where it came from WERE the sisters somehow tied to the reservoir Was Rubys father magical somehow I wanted to know the HOW.


It was an enjoyable read, which left me with mixed emotions, And I usually dont feel mixed emotions for BAD books, just those with so much packed into them, and which are so realistic, that I just dont know what to do when theyre over.


I started reading this book in June, JUNE! I finally finished reading it last night, Admittedly I liked Imaginary Girls at firstlike the first couple of chaptersthen almost immediately it was all I could do to finish one page every time I picked this book up.
The story is not that interesting, The writingstyle is irritating and pretentious, It feels as though author goes out of her way to say things in the most roundabout way, in a way that's meant to be artsy and poetic.
I wouldn't go so far as say the prose are purpleish, . . but yeah almost.

Plus, I didn't like the older sister, Ruby, which is sort of a huge problem because a lot of the story has to do with the MC's Chloe heroworship of said older sister.
Hate is a strong word, but I'm willing to go so far as say I HATE Ruby, She sucks. And while I can understand Chloe's allegiance to Ruby, I still think she gives her sister way too much control over every aspect in her life.
And the worst part is she does so gladly, That wouldn't be so bad if at the end of the novel things had been different, But, no, I didn't get the sense that Chloe was a better person by the end of the novel, if she'd learned some sort of a lesson.
If anything, she's regressed. And that's really sad.

So, while I do think the cover is STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL, and like the fact that this is a standalone with an original premise, I still do not like this book.
I don't know who I'd recommend it to, No one, probably. But if you're wanting to read this, don't let my review stop you, Read Imaginary Girls if you feel compelled to do so, Who knows It might be just up your alley,.stars. Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged, When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.


But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await, As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.


With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.
I just finished IMAGINARY GIRLS, LiterallyI turned the last page a moment ago, It's normally a bad idea for me to write reviews without a breathing period, where my thoughts can take shape, my reaction stabilize, And I haven't written a review for a long time, have purposefully not written reviews for months, But I want to write this so I can think about this book more, I'm not sure what I feel about this book and why, I need this space to decide,

In some ways, this book was everything I could ever want out of a novel, In glittering, shining moments of the narrative, when a particular line uncurled itself from the page, came alive, just stood there and said hello to me, I felt it.
When an arresting image appeared in front of my eyes, vivid and real enough to touch or breathe or live briefly in, I felt it.
It's that thrilling feeling you get sometimes, when you're reading something that will become important to you, It's like a tickle in the gut, This was THE BOOK, I thought, My newest soulbook.

But for some reason, as the last page lies read on my nightstand, I realize IMAGINARY GIRLS never quite arrived there, What I'm left with is more a fleeting impression of a novel several alive scenes, restless segments of language stuck in my head, a recollection of dialogue.
At this moment, at least, IMAGINARY GIRLS is not quite substantial enough for me, Not quite enough.

It's not because of the prose, because the writing is beautiful, Suma writes with such grace, Her sentences flow ceaselessly on the page, undulating into and out of themselves, connecting with each other in moments of wonderful rhythm, Her imagery is precisethe details, small actions and appearances of characters focused on with microscopic intensity render sometimes surreal, sometimes poignant scenes,

It's not the premise, Magical realism or surrealism are currently my favorite things to read, I want more of it in YA I'm hungry for it, And I want more stories like this in YA, that leave questions in your mind,
that are perhaps a bit strange but singularly unique, that make you think.
Though the slowmoving events and the sometimes lack of a plot won't win as many teen readers over, I didn't mind too much, although I'll admit my attention sometimes waned during long paragraphs of internal monologue.
Or perhaps it is the plothow do I explain It doesn't feel entirely like a linked story, this book, More a collection of compelling, surreal images, There's more atmosphere than happening, more prose than character,

And it's the characters, I've begun to think, that makes this bookstar for me and not, They're not quite enough. It's the fact that I can't sense them, They didn't come alive, in the way the setting and the descriptions did, I can't think of a character trait for the main character Chloe other than her obsessive love for her sister Ruby, her yearning, Ruby is easier, I suppose, She's cruel and beautiful and powerful, But Chloe She's an empty vessel for the story, She narrates. She tells of enigmatic, wonderful Ruby, and that is all, But do I have a right to complain about her, when I love THE GREAT GATSBY so Shouldn't I think something more reasonable, like Chloe's lack of substance is a reflection of Ruby's power to ensorcell, to captivate everyone and everything, so even a book about her younger sister focuses on her as her "echo" of a sister dissipates

I don't know.
I am left feeling strange by this book, It's not the more unusual turn of events, which I found refreshing and lovely, It's the feeling of having missed something, lost something, Maybe if I'd read this earlier in my life or laterI'm not sure which it would have meant more to me, It's the fact that it doesn'tfor whatever reasonthe characters, I supposethat makes me feel unsettled, more than the threatening, oil black surface of Chloe's reservoir ever did.







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