Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend: Review

Books are like people, you see the cover, you read the first page and instantly you know whether or not you’ll like the book. That’s what I had with Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend (I liked it, that is) and it has now become one of my favourite books.

Stories that provoke the imagination are always a plus in my book. Pun intended. And I also like characters with problems that aren’t easily solved. In this case that is Max, the eight-year-old boy with a form of autism. This is also the reason why he has had an imaginary friend longer than most kids, because he still needs him. Budo, the imaginary friend, is mostly afraid of disappearing and the theme of the book, in my eyes, is therefore existence. Everybody (or at least most people) are afraid of dying/disappearing and in this case that theme is handled in a very original and interesting way.

The characters have as much depth as a giant volcano, those are deep right? Even the minor characters are portrayed realistically and well. The story flows nicely and everything that happens contributes to the story, AKA no boring parts. I felt like this book was a fun, intriguing, suspenseful and creative adventure involving an imaginary friend as he tries to save his friend from an interesting antagonist. It is also really cool to encounter the different types of imaginary friends and even though, surprisingly, I never had any imaginary friends as a kid, I want one now. And yes, even grown-ups can have imaginary friends, the author said so. So please excuse me, my talking (and snarky) unicorn wants to play with me now. I am Morgan and I approve this message…I mean, book! J

PS: Follow the author on Twitter: @MatthewDicks