Vicky’s Comments (group member since Jun 24, 2020)

Vicky’s comments from the Random Reads group.

Let's talk about Part 4 here!

Let's discuss the start of the book here. How is everyone liking it? Are there any standout characters? Any themes you're liking? Let's talk about it!

I’ve finally finished! It took me forever to read this 😂 I love the themes this book explored, and Rice’s vampires are so interesting to me. The plot though….was a bit slow. It bogged down soooooo much in the middle and then it was like Paris/new vampires/death/fire and more death/bye Armand/end in rapid succession. The pacing was just off for me. And I like Louis, but Lestat is a way better protagonist. So the next couple of books I think are better because Lestat tells those stories. I’m glad I reread this, but it’s definitely not the best in the series! I would consider rereading the rest of the books someday, but not now lol. Now I want to rewatch the movie since it’s been forever since I’ve seen it! Thanks everyone for reading with us :)

Hey guys!
It's time to announce our December pick for the bookclub and for December we're going with Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. I've read Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower multiple times and just love it. Though Imaginary Friend appears to be quite different from Perks I'm excited to check this out. Here is the synopsis:

Christopher is seven years old.
Christopher is the new kid in town.
Christopher has an imaginary friend.

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.

Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six long days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

It sounds like it might be kind of creepy and weird and I'm just here for it! We start Imaginary Friend on December 1st and we hope you'll join us!

The relationship between Lestat and Louis is my favorite thing about this book. The way that they have this dislike of each other but also need each other. I love the whole storyline with Claudia as well. A child vampire? It’s dark and interesting but also heartbreaking. Because on the outside she is forever a child, though inside she has all of this experience and growth. I feel bad for her really, even though she is a devilish little thing! I really like this story and Rice’s vampires in general. In most literature they’re just these blood thirsty, mindless monsters. But these vampires, though blood thirsty, also appreciate art and read books and stuff. It’s just great how she’s humanized them so much, especially as the series goes on. I am enjoying this reread!

Well I loved this! When I read it the first time I definitely read the edited down version, so I liked the extra stuff that this edition had. I loved the way it ended with Tom and Stu coming back to Denver, and seeing things move forward and such. The climax with the whole “hand of God” was good but also a little anticlimactic. I wanted more of a showdown there, but oh well. I was sad that Larry, Ralph and Glen died. But my guy Tom made it!! This is definitely still one of my favorite King novels for sure. I loved the characters, the story, and even though it wasn’t particularly scary to me it had some creepy moments for sure. I’m glad I finally got around to rereading it. I’ll have to tackle a reread of It in the future as well, since that one is a favorite too but also a long one! I hope all of you that made it this far have enjoyed the read :)

That scene when Tom was hypnotized was so good. I just love Tom! He’s one of my favorite King characters ever. And Nick 😢 He’s another favorite. I’m sad that he went out like that. Damn Harold and Nadine!

I’m not finding the rebuilding sections boring either! It’s interesting to see all that needs to be done and how they plan to go about doing it. Harold and Nadine are definitely interesting!

We finished the book! What did everyone think? Who ended up being your favorite character? Were there any themes you picked up on? This is the first book in a series. Do you think you'll continue and read the rest of the books?

We're almost through the book! Let's talk about Part Three here.

Let's discuss Part Two here. How is the plot going for you? What about the writing?

How do we like the book so far? Are there any characters that you like? Any you don't? Let's talk about part one here!

I felt the same about Trashcan Man! The Kid was something else lol. I’m glad we got to see a little of what the Vegas crew is up to. And Harold is a creep for sure!

I liked that in this section we got to know a little more about Mother Abigail, and see the after effects of the plague. It was interesting seeing people start to form groups and migrate west. I want more Randall Flagg though. For being the bad guy we haven’t seen him much. I love his overall connection to the Dark tower series (I won’t say it here because spoilers) and I just want more of the bad people 😈 As the two camps (good and bad) continue to form I’m sure we’ll see that.

I definitely know that the first time I read this I read the edited version. There’s a lot in this one that I know wasn’t there the first time I read it.

I loved meeting Trashcan Man! He’s definitely a memorable character. The scene with Larry in the Lincoln Tunnel was so creepy. I don’t know if I would’ve made it through 😂

It’s scary how quickly this plague wiped everybody out, and that many of those deaths weren’t even from the virus but from the government/military gunning them down and people just going crazy (the guy executing people on live TV 😳). It might have been in the last section, but that whole scene with the radio host getting killed in the station while people listened was just horrifying. Things just fell apart so fast!

That whole section where he shows you how the virus was getting passed from person to person so easily had me like 😳. It reminded me a little bit of the beginning of the Covid pandemic in our area. The first case in our county was some guy who had recently traveled and all they said was something like “if you were at the Burger King on such and such cross street on this day at this time you may have been exposed” and then of course a few days later none of those details mattered or they couldn’t keep track of it all. It’s just creepy that all of those people in the book were getting infected and had no idea, because the people who infected them had no idea they were even sick and so on and so on.

I’m glad we briefly met Nick in this section. He’s probably my favorite character (him and Tom Cullen, who we meet later). Stu is pretty great too.

I watched the TV miniseries quite a few times as a kid so I picture those actors playing the characters as I’m reading. I watched the first episode of the revamped miniseries and didn’t like it so gave up 😕

Woo hoo we made it! What did everyone think? Give your final thoughts on the book here :)

Let's talk about Chapters 61-68 here!

Let's discuss chapters 55-60 here.

Let's discuss chapters 51-54 here!