Book Summary and Reviews of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

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avid

memoirs of an imaginary friend
I absolutely love this book! I saw similarities to "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" and "Room", but with so much more depth and compassion. I loved Budo's wisdom and insight. Most surprising to me was the way I accepted the imaginary characters; I normally dislike stories about supernatural beings. The simple explanation that the imaginary friends were each endowed with the powers bestowed upon them by their human creators worked for me - and I particularly enjoyed this element of the story.

I appreciated the shout-out to the world's truly good teachers, and the simple observation of what differentiates those who "act" from those who "teach". Max's whole situation was handled so compassionately and realistically , both from his perspective, and that of the people who come in contact with him, that the book could be required reading for those who parent or work with special-needs children.

In addition to the above, there was a page-turning suspense story, a murder, much adventure, and a happy ending. The pacing was perfect, and the story flawless. I loved every page of this book. Nothing has impressed me this much in the last 500 books I've read. Truly outstanding. I recommend to everyone!

Kelli R.

Creative Narrator Leaves Me in the Middle of the Road
The uncertainty of what this book is might be one of the reasons why I struggled to love this book, its narrator, its plot, and its characters. I questioned several times whether I was truly the intended audience for this book. With that said, I read the book quickly. As I finished, though, I imagined that the only folks I would likely recommend this book to would be middle school readers or parents looking for a book to read to their elementary school child. When I discovered that the author was, in fact, a fifth grade teacher, it made perfect sense to me. Although I know many adults have read this book, even as part of a book club, the book is written (intentionally) in short, choppy sentences from the unique view point of an imaginary friend of a third grader. Kudos to Matthew Dicks for the creation of the creative narrator! But the straddling between reality and fantasy was a tough sell for me - I would have been a much happier reader if Oswald had not intervened in the plot line. I wanted to see just Budo and Max figure this problem out by themselves. In the end, this book left me in the middle of the road.