Monumental change in genre from “Perks of Being a Wallflower” to this and at times some horror themes did feel forced from the author; not necessarily trope-y but a little heavy handed. I agree with other reviewers that the book is a bit repetitive, past using that as a plot device. I think the build up of an overtly religious apex and closure of the piece may put some readers off, but it’s not an entirely perplexing of an end.

However, I really liked the ways the author physically created sentence using different font and wordage types, I didn’t find this to be too leading. There were so many heartbreaking instances of the reader/audience knowing something that the character doesn’t yet, and I think that’s an integral way of shaping horror. Chekov’s gun really came to bat in this novel.

I don’t think you needed to be a fan of “Perks” to get into “Imaginary”, I view them as fundamentally separate pieces. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would read another horror piece from Chbosky.