Thursday, September 8, 2011

Review: 'Imaginary Girls' by Nova Ren Suma

"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."


(Amazon product description)

I wanted to love this book, but just ended up sort of liking it. The writing was beautiful and appropriately eerie. Suma definately has writing talent. My biggest problem were the characters. Chloe's obsession with her sister Ruby is beyond annoying. Pages and pages throughout the novel are devoted to her hero-like worship, which makes no sense because Ruby is extremely unlikeable. She is manipulative, cold-hreated, careless and a complete user. Sometimes Chloe is able to see this, but then she keeps right on following Ruby like a puppy. Makes you want to reach through the pages and smack her.

The plot started out interesting, promising a great mystery and hidden secrets, but the ending never really lived up to it's potential. Many questions were left unanswered. How does Ruby control the people of the town? How can she send out wishes on balloons and get people to answer them? Does she truly love her sister, or does she just want her as a minion? None of this ever really resolved. In the end, Chloe continued on with her crazy devotion to her sister.

The author also began to build up this possible love story between Chloe and Owen, who seemed to be the only person not under Ruby's thrall. Unfortunately, Owen turned out to be just another loser and the that sub-plot fell flat.


Overall, I give Imaginary Girls...

Plot - 2 bookmarks
Character Development - 2 1/2 bookmarks (started out good, but fell flat)

Paranormal Elements - 3 1/2 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Kristen Stewart (Ruby), a younger Kristen Stewart (Chloe), Garrett Hedlund (Pete), Alex Pettyfer (Owen), Imogen Poots (London), Chris Hemsworth (Jonah)

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