Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks was our book club choice this month for our in-person book club.
The story features Max Delaney, an 8-year-old little boy who is autistic, but has not officially been diagnosed. He has an imaginary friend named Budo who narrates the book and helps Max survive in his world. Budo has been “alive” for 5 years—a long time in imaginary years. Imaginary friends only exist as long as the person who created them, keeps believing in them. There is a bit of magical realism is this book, because the imaginary people are in a slightly different realm—imaginary beings can see each other and talk to each other, but only the human who created them can see or hear them from a human’s perspective—and once the human no longer needs them, the imaginary friends disappear. Where do they go? Budo is quite afraid of dying or going away. If nothing else, it is a highly creative idea for a book. The beginning of the book was a tad slow for me. Once Mrs. Patterson does her dirty deed, things got a bit more interesting—we finally had a plot and the book had a purpose for me.
Having a child with special needs can be difficult. The story does showcase many of those difficulties, from not fitting in, being bullied, and even how the parents deal with it. The mom is more in tune with Max, while the father is in denial, but both think he will eventually grow out of it. There is debate on whether to have another child who might also have problems. The story illustrates parenting roles, as well as how important friendships are.
The It also showcases how one teacher can impact a student—both for the good, and the bad. The theme of life and death and whether or not there is an afterlife was also an integral theme of the book, but it . It was an interesting read and I am not sorry I read it, but I would not rate it as one of my top 10 books. The lowest rating was a 3.5 and the highest was a 4.5 with an overall rating of 3.8.
We had a great deal to discuss in this book, and Ann made a wonderful meal for us.
In keeping with the theme of the book, we had chicken and rice (Max’s favorite) and then green bean bundles and salad. Max also loved pancakes but not with blueberries, so we had crepes with blueberries.
It was a great book club.
Did you have an imaginary friend?