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Loading... The Imaginary (original 2014; edition 2014)by A F Harrold (Author)I love this book! The illustrations really help set the mood. I have only read one other book about imaginary friends ([b:Crenshaw|23310699|Crenshaw|Katherine Applegate|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1475972698l/23310699._SX50_.jpg|42864821])... and even that book was really telling the boy's story through his relationship to the imaginary friend. But this book is the story of one particular imaginary friend, and the world of "imaginaries." It explores a lot of darker themes (death, loss, forgetting...) and has some pretty scary characters, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under 7 or so, unless they don't mind darker stuff. . . . . . . . . . . Spoilers ahead! For those who've finished the book: Where is the middle grade horror sequel about Rudger running from Simple Simon with the next "real" he befriends? Or the prequel about how Mr. Bunting became the monster he is? Seriously, I need to know what happened to him and his imaginary before they, shall we say, joined the dark side.... (There is a hint at it on the back of the jacket of my edition: Mr. Bunting's shirt has a pattern which shows him and his imaginary holding hands. She is actually smiling at him, and has peach-toned skin and normal eyes. But he looks the same. However, all other illustrations inside the book of Mr. Bunting show his "Hawaiian" shirt and Bermuda shorts as covered in running (human) skeletons, fire, Hawaiian flowers with skulls for petals, and strange dragons trying to eat the skeletons. I don't think anyone will see this, but I just wanted to put that out there. :) I wanted so much to like The Imaginary; the cover is so enticing! But the description on the back of the book, which compares it to [b:Coraline|1967070|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348347289s/1967070.jpg|21987573] and [b:The Witches|6327|The Witches|Roald Dahl|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351707720s/6327.jpg|105046], is a more accurate reflection of the type of book it is than the cover. It's a creepy, spooky story interspersed throughout with illustrations -- some of which are downright scary. One Imaginary character is so similar to the scary girl from The Grudge movie, both in depiction and description, that I thought I would have nightmares. The illustrations are very reminiscent of [a:Edward Gorey|21578|Edward Gorey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1200338278p2/21578.jpg]'s illustrations, simple-seeming sketches that still manage to be quite haunting. While I wouldn't recommend The Imaginary to kids who scare easily, it is still a well-written and intriguing story. Fans of [a:John Bellairs|101070|John Bellairs|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1197854239p2/101070.jpg], [b:Coraline|1967070|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348347289s/1967070.jpg|21987573], [a:Edward Gorey|21578|Edward Gorey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1200338278p2/21578.jpg], and other spooky, scary books will enjoy it. Note: I received an ARC from the publisher and a digital galley through NetGalley. Pardon me for a lot of repeating, this is basically a summarized version of my explanation to someone else during the reading process. A girl has an imaginary friend she meets one day in her closet, they talk and her mom gets told about him and asks about him and her friends can't see him and he's being a bit Richie because he's all "It meant I was for Amanda only, and that felt nice, made me feel special", and then she meets a man who has his own imaginary friend. But before that we open with something that DOES interest me. Amanda "dies", he watches her die, and he feels empty and alone and feels like he's fading away and leaving existence, and I went OH this could be interesting, but then the plot twist says "I see you" and it goes and then I could see again instead of the darkness. Plotwist is there's a person who hunts imaginaries. Now I'm twelve pages in, we have the synopsis on the book of the "then he finds out an imaginary hunter is after him" and we have the opening of Amanda dies, and a scary voice says I See You, and then we cut to before all of this. And I'm slogging through this bumbling mess because it has a concept, but it's sort of you know what you're getting unless there's a surprise not yet spoiled because otherwise it's "read to find out what happens" but again, unless there's a twist, you know already, and the book's not massive, but it's really blandly written, the style is slow. What interests me more than the book now is the concept of hey, if an imaginary friend's human dies, do they die, or do they exist so long as someone can see them? That was more interesting a thought than what I've read. I can tell there's a hard attempt at "whimsy" because the names are goofy, not over the top but with last names like Shufflecup or whatever and a man who gets asked for his ID after saying his name twice gets a piece of cardboard, writes his name, holds it out, as in IDing himself. But it's very oatmeal feeling. These sentences are flat and just sort of go "and then something funny happened" and I go uh-huh, I know two things about you and five about the imaginary friend. The cover here is what made me intrigued but we open on weird chapters and a lot of scenarios which I guess are cute but also eh. First thing is her shoes are soaking wet, the knots are tied too tightly, so she thinks what if she never gets them off, she'll have wet gross feet forever and she'll have to grow with deformed tiny feet as she grew up and she takes scissors and cuts the laces and opens the closet to hide them when "Roger" appears staring at her in confusion. (I call him Roger and not Rudger because Rudger constantly became Roger before my eyes, Rudger is hard to figure out the pronunciation, it's not like Bloo can be said like Blue or anything, it comes off as RUD-GRR, which is weird to behold.) That was a weird mouthful to start with after Amanda was dead in front of Roger's eyes. This is our main character. A child scared of wet shoes claiming her feet. It should appeal, right? It should be like oh kids are silly and do silly things like this, but it lacked the actual kid-ness of it and more OH YES A FIVE YEAR OLD IS CONTEMPLATING GETTING OLDER AND STUCK LIKE THIS AS AN ADULT. The kind of thing I did once or twice as a young child when I was in a serious situation not my shoes were too tight. But it's meant to be either serious or way too whimsical. It's more it filled in all the blanks too fast. Conflict: There is a hunter after Roger, Amanda loves Roger and won't let him go. Intro: Amanda was dead. Chapter two: Amanda is Amanda. . . What's the stakes? Intro: Amanda was dead, he watched her go blue and cease to move. WHAT ARE THE STAKES?! Reading through this book is both unpleasant, unhappy, and depressing. It's far too sad for a book, and I've no idea why it chose this route. Pardon me for a lot of repeating, this is basically a summarized version of my explanation to someone else during the reading process. A girl has an imaginary friend she meets one day in her closet, they talk and her mom gets told about him and asks about him and her friends can't see him and he's being a bit Richie because he's all "It meant I was for Amanda only, and that felt nice, made me feel special", and then she meets a man who has his own imaginary friend. But before that we open with something that DOES interest me. Amanda "dies", he watches her die, and he feels empty and alone and feels like he's fading away and leaving existence, and I went OH this could be interesting, but then the plot twist says "I see you" and it goes and then I could see again instead of the darkness. Plotwist is there's a person who hunts imaginaries. Now I'm twelve pages in, we have the synopsis on the book of the "then he finds out an imaginary hunter is after him" and we have the opening of Amanda dies, and a scary voice says I See You, and then we cut to before all of this. And I'm slogging through this bumbling mess because it has a concept, but it's sort of you know what you're getting unless there's a surprise not yet spoiled because otherwise it's "read to find out what happens" but again, unless there's a twist, you know already, and the book's not massive, but it's really blandly written, the style is slow. What interests me more than the book now is the concept of hey, if an imaginary friend's human dies, do they die, or do they exist so long as someone can see them? That was more interesting a thought than what I've read. I can tell there's a hard attempt at "whimsy" because the names are goofy, not over the top but with last names like Shufflecup or whatever and a man who gets asked for his ID after saying his name twice gets a piece of cardboard, writes his name, holds it out, as in IDing himself. But it's very oatmeal feeling. These sentences are flat and just sort of go "and then something funny happened" and I go uh-huh, I know two things about you and five about the imaginary friend. The cover here is what made me intrigued but we open on weird chapters and a lot of scenarios which I guess are cute but also eh. First thing is her shoes are soaking wet, the knots are tied too tightly, so she thinks what if she never gets them off, she'll have wet gross feet forever and she'll have to grow with deformed tiny feet as she grew up and she takes scissors and cuts the laces and opens the closet to hide them when "Roger" appears staring at her in confusion. (I call him Roger and not Rudger because Rudger constantly became Roger before my eyes, Rudger is hard to figure out the pronunciation, it's not like Bloo can be said like Blue or anything, it comes off as RUD-GRR, which is weird to behold.) That was a weird mouthful to start with after Amanda was dead in front of Roger's eyes. This is our main character. A child scared of wet shoes claiming her feet. It should appeal, right? It should be like oh kids are silly and do silly things like this, but it lacked the actual kid-ness of it and more OH YES A FIVE YEAR OLD IS CONTEMPLATING GETTING OLDER AND STUCK LIKE THIS AS AN ADULT. The kind of thing I did once or twice as a young child when I was in a serious situation not my shoes were too tight. But it's meant to be either serious or way too whimsical. It's more it filled in all the blanks too fast. Conflict: There is a hunter after Roger, Amanda loves Roger and won't let him go. Intro: Amanda was dead. Chapter two: Amanda is Amanda. . . What's the stakes? Intro: Amanda was dead, he watched her go blue and cease to move. WHAT ARE THE STAKES?! Reading through this book is both unpleasant, unhappy, and depressing. It's far too sad for a book, and I've no idea why it chose this route. Well, that turned out to be shockingly touching. It's pretty much everything I want in a book--compelling characters, an original take on a subject, a plot that manages to be consistent with expectations and surprising at once, and an unexpectedly moving conclusion. I had literally no idea what this would be about or where it would go when I'd started it (I imagine Goodreads had suggested it because I liked something else, and I mindlessly added it to the queue), but it was a fresh, inventive, wonderful little read. (Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). A great book about friendship and interpersonal relationships. Although Harrold's writing style was a bit off putting at first, later I realized how well he verbalizes differences in character and lessons. There was a particular depth to this story that drew me in, and in completely unexpected ways. The characters and illustrations are very unique, I have not read a book that resembles this before. It seems that this book celebrates diversity in strengths and weaknesses, and how individuals can take responsibility for their actions. This novel talks about a story with imaginary friends, and how the imaginary friend could "fade" if the are forgotten. A girl named Amanda had a car accident. she goes to the hospital, so her "imaginary" friend Rudger is left out alone, with no one to think of him. The story develops around his efforts to try to find Amanda again. The Imaginary by A.F. Harrold recalls to mind the memory of childhood and the power (danger?) of imagination. The story revolves around Amanda and her best friend named Rudger. They're typical friends that have lots of imaginary play, get into mischief, and share all of their secrets with one another. The only difference is that no one else can see Rudger because he's Amanda's imaginary friend. This book walks a tightrope between fantasy and reality which at times is quite blurred. This is not a fantasy full of giggles and silliness but one fraught with darkness and fear. There is a threat not only to Amanda and Rudger's friendship but to their very lives...and it's getting closer. This is a book about the true meaning of friendship and to what lengths you will go to preserve it. Also, cats. (I genuinely made a note after reading this book that was simply CATS so clearly that's an important aspect of this book.) I must also point out that the narrative was elevated even further by the fantastic illustrations of Emily Gravett. (I liked her work so much that I sought out her picture books.) I've been recommending this to reluctant readers because I think it's a great way to dip your toe into fantasy and the scary element definitely sells it as well. 9/10 A.F. Harrold's book "The Imaginary" opens with Christina Rossetti's poem, "Remember," an eloquent plea for the speaker's beloved to remember her after she has died. While readers might be baffled by the author's choice of this poem, those readers who chose to return to the poem after the book ends, will understand exactly what Rosetti and Harrold meant. "The Imaginary" opens in the middle of Rudger's fear that his dear friend Amanda might be dead and his sorrowful thoughts on how her death, which means so much to him, means so little to the rest of the world. Then he hears these fateful words: "I can see you." Rudger is lucky to be seen, because he is Amanda's invisible, imaginary friend, which means that without Amanda to imagine and remember him, Rudger will die. After these opening scenes, we get to see how Rudger became Amanda's friend and the accident that is causing her to forget about him. Even before this terrible tragedy, there is a villain lurking in the shadows that Rudger will have to defeat before he can return to his role as Amanda's best friend. After the accident, Rudger is saved by a cat Zinzan who leads him to the local library where invisible friends go to wait to find another friend. After a series of adventures with some truly horrible children, Rudger ends up at Amanda's side, but not before he has to defeat the monster who eats invisible children in order to remain young. This is truly a wonderful imaginative book, perfect for reading aloud and sharing with your invisible and visible friends. Harrold imagines the plight of being the invisible friend vividly. For example, even though a place is set at the table and food is on the plate, Rudger doesn't ever get to eat, because Amanda eats his food for him. Rudger also must tolerate people pretending to shake his hand, while they are actually poking him the stomach because they can't see him. In addition, his appearance and gender must change in order to match what each child wants in his or her invisible friend. The illustrations add to the story, but this isn't a picture book. It definitely falls in the illustrated novel category. Harrold plays with the idea that most children do not remember their invisible friends while their parents do. All in all this was a delightful book that reminds us that we shouldn't forget our invisible friends. Often they were our first, closest and best friends and they haven't forgotten us.
I just adored this book. Between the writing and the amazing illustrations, I couldn't put it down. It's such a sweet and haunting tale of a girl, Amanda, and her imaginary friend Rudger. When something terrible happiness to Amanda, Rudger is terrified for several reasons. One being if there isn't any Amanda, there isn't anyone to imagine him. The other reason being the big bad Imaginary hunter in town who is on the pursuit. This was a very good story of imagination and bravery for young readers and I would recommend it to anyone. This is a short, fantasy novel. I don’t know if you’ve ever had an imaginary friend, but this is the story of one. Amanda is a little girl who has a wild imagination. One day, she opens her wardrobe to find a young boy, named Rudger. They have great fun playing together. In fact, Amanda is perfectly content and doesn’t desire friendship from anyone at school. Things become dark when Mr. Bunting arrives. He can smell imaginaries and feeds off of them. Rudger is in danger. The suspense builds as Rudger is suddenly alone, without Amanda. If he isn’t with her and she forgets about him, he’ll Fade. Mr. Bunting is close on his tail, but no one believes Rudger because they think Mr. Bunting is just a made-up story. It’s a race to get back to Amanda in order to save both of them. To be honest, I’m not a fan of imaginary friend stories. They seem silly. This novel seemed very 4th grade to me, but maybe I’m wrong. It’s cute and not bad; it just did not appeal to me. This was a fun, fast read. I enjoyed the different characters. I cheered when Rudger and Amanda got back together. This story has a few dark places, but they were enjoyable. The author was new to me, but I plan to try to read other stories written by this author. I do think some adults have more "imaginary" then other adults. What a highly creative book. I loved it from start to finish. With the theme of children's imaginations and the fact that some children imagine playmates which they believe are real. The author weaves a tale of the lives of the imaginary friends. They exist only to be a part of the person who imagined them.. When they are no longer needed, they fade away. If fortunate, they find the magical door for the imaginary playmates and look live in a library where a bulletin board shows possible children who may be looking for an imaginary friend. My review cannot do this book justice. I highly recommend it! have not yet read this, but I met the author in Oxford, where he gave a poetry reading, and he restored my faith in the British sense of humour. This is beautifully illustrated by Emily Gravett. Review now that I have read it: Sometimes dark, with a couple of frightening characters (but not as frightening as Coraline), an original tale of childhood, adulthood, imagination, friendship, with a touch of humour, a cat called Oven and a dog called Fridge. I liked it very much. THE IMAGINARY by A.F. Harrold is an entertaining middle-grades fantasy about imaginary friends. In most novels, the imaginary friend plays the side-kick, but this isn’t the case in THE IMAGINARY. While his human playmate is in the hospital, Rudger takes center stage as an imaginary companion struggling to stay strong and avoid the evil Mr. Bunting. Harrold’s rich language and quirky writing style will be attractive for many tween readers. Emily Gravett’s amazing, full-color artwork contribute to the appeal of this beautifully presented book. Harrold’s work has been aptly compared to Neil Gaiman and Roald Dahl. Librarians will find the mix of eerie suspense with lighthearted humor a popular combination with tween readers. For information about this amazing author and poet, go to http://afharrold.tumblr.com/. For a website designed specifically for kids, go to http://www.afharroldkids.com/. The website contains videos and an image gallery related to the book. Published by Bloomsbury Kids by March 2015. For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions. Erica Barmash first mentioned this one on Twitter months and months ago. Middle grade, as I keep saying, isn’t my jam most of the time. However, all of her praise made me want to check out The Imaginary, so, when the time came, I requested it, crossing my fingers I wouldn’t regret my choice. I’m so grateful that I tried The Imaginary, because I think, without Erica’s promo, I probably never would have looked at it twice. The Imaginary is this gorgeous, surprisingly creepy story about imaginary friends and growing up. The introduction, as introductions often are, is a bit misleading. It does, however, set the tone for The Imaginary really well. I mean, the first sentence is “Amanda was dead,” so this book isn’t going to be all fluffy magic times. There are silly, humorous moments, but there are also really dark ones too. The best comparison I can devise is A Monster Calls, though that’s taking on a heavier subject. Both are surprisingly dark, with beautiful stories made more arresting by the use of incredibly perfect illustrations. The Imaginary‘s intended audience skews a bit younger, but both are very powerful and a feast for the eyeballs. One of the downsides of advance review copies is that you tend not to get the final illustrations. In this case, I did get to see seven of the ten full color illustrations in full color, though they were put together at the beginning of the novel. From those, it’s clear that Emily Gravett makes excellent use of color, popping certain things out of a gray background. Personally, I love the illustrations in black and white, so this wasn’t really a hardship. I can only imagine the finished copy will be stunning. The illustrations are amazing, but, even more than the larger pictures, I adore the small touches that combine to make this book so pretty. There are a few pages with white font on a black background or where an illustration interacts with the text. Page breaks have a little cat in a whole bunch of poses. Not to mention the fact that there’s this one page that will haunt me because the illustration does horror so effectively. The Imaginary posits what life is like for imaginary friends. Rudger is Amanda’s imaginary friend. The idea of imaginary friends is considered from two main angles: that of the imaginary friend and that of those looking on at the imaginary friendship. I think these two different considerations make The Imaginary an excellent choice for both children and older readers, particularly parents who might be side-eyeing their child’s imaginary friend. I don’t think that I had an imaginary friend when I was a child, but I feel really horrible thinking I might have had and forgotten one. Most likely my imaginary friends were all the book characters I clung to, rather than one like Rudger. It’s unbearably sad to consider the way they disappear once the person who dreamed them up forgets them. The library of forgotten imaginary friends is at once the most comical portion of the book and the saddest. I iz not alone. I got frands! More than anything, The Imaginary delights in the imagination. One mother sends her child to a psychologist because she doesn’t approve of imaginary friends. Amanda’s mother, however, indulges Amanda, even going so far as to make food for Rudger, though he doesn’t eat it obviously. Combined with Rudger and Amanda’s story, looking at these two parents, it was impossible for me to see the other girl’s mother as doing anything but stifling creativity. Imaginary friends fade with time, but they’re sometimes an essential part of development. I highly recommend taking the time to read The Imaginary. It’s under 220 pages and there are pictures, so why not? Seriously SO GORGEOUS. Rudger is Amanda's best friend. Of course, he's imaginary, but neither Amanda nor Rudger is bothered by this. Then, one day, Mr. Bunting comes to the door. Unlike any other adult in the world, Mr. Bunting can see Rudger -- but this is definitely not a good thing. It's obvious from their first meeting that there's something wrong with Mr. Bunting, something ominous about him. When a later run-in with the man causes an accident that separates Rudger and Amanda, Rudger must run for his life to escape Mr. Bunting and get back to Amanda . . . but can an imaginary boy survive on his own, without his real-world friend? This book works so well on so many levels. The characters are quirky and fun, the plot moves right along, there are some scary bits and some funny bits -- kids will love this book. There's also pathos and attention to detail (the cat's name is Oven, and I won't tell you why that is significant, but it is) and depth -- adults will love this book. I can see it working really well as a classroom read-aloud for second or third graders, though it might be a little too scary for children any younger than that. Also, it is fabulously illustrated by the talented Emily Gravett. This may be the best book I've read so far this year. Highly recommended. |
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I had literally no idea what this would be about or where it would go when I'd started it (I imagine Goodreads had suggested it because I liked something else, and I mindlessly added it to the queue), but it was a fresh, inventive, wonderful little read.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )