IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

YA - Hardcover, 352 pages
Published June 14, 2011

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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.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.

IMAGINARY GIRLS is beautifully written. I usually read an entire book in one or two sittings, but I found myself becoming exhausted after a few chapters of this one and it ended up taking me over a week, reading some each day. I wanted to love it. I sort of do, but it’s hard for me to express… Each sentence is like molasses rolling over the town, piece by piece, as Chloe tells her story.

The relationship between Chloe and her older sister, Ruby, is extraordinary. Stripped down, in a real life setting, it is exactly my experience of being an older sister. However, within the story, with its otherworldly plot and constant mystery, the relationship between the sisters reaches a whole new level of what it is to love and be devoted. Too much, even, but that’s what the story is about. It’s disturbing, but beautiful.

For over 200 pages, you won’t even being to understand what’s happening. If you’re me, you’ll turn to your husband and worry that the girls you’re reading about don’t exist and the whole story is in the imagination of someone you’ve never met. (Then, he’ll taunt you every time he sees you reading the book and remind you that those girls are going to disappear off the page at some point and you’ll worry.) Keep reading…

IMAGINARY GIRLS is full of stunning writing and a storyline that will keep you guessing (okay, confused, if you’re me.) until the very end. Are the sisters crazy? Is one of them some sort of powerful non-human? WHAT IS HAPPENING? Nothing is obvious or handed to you. Every page, every word, is leading you somewhere. Possibly to heartbreak. It’s magical, and touching, and like nothing I’ve ever read.