Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Matthew Green

I picked this book up as a 'Buy one get one half price' offer in WH Smiths at Liverpool Street Station, London. I was early for my destination. I am always early, but i hadn't anticipated being so early that I would have reached the family I was visiting an hour and a half early. I'm prepared but that was a little bit early even for me.

So anyway, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was my bonus book. It was such a great find that it only took 24 hours to read. I fitted it in to every little bit of time in the day I could, from my computer loading, to the microwave pinging for my lunch.

The Story comes from the point of view of an imaginary friend, talking about his imaginer Max. Max is a little boy who is different from other children. He lives mainly on the inside, and does not understand what others are meant to do and be. Others try to get him into a box of normality. His mum is trying to make him like other kids, with doctors appointments one after another, while his dad half pretends he is and acts. Both hurt that Max is unable to love them the way a normal child does.

The book allows the development of several themes, not only that of a child with a special learning disorder, but of relationships, friendships, the importance of self, the difficulty of loss and the survival instinct in all of us.

The point of view is a different one, to have your main character's voice being of that which is questioning his own reality, is extremely rare, but in this particular story it works extremely well. There were elements of the book i felt were not needed, Max seeing the specialist seemed almost a waste of words, as it was not mentioned again. And although it gave Budo a chance to reflect Max's differences it was not used to its full potential and could perhaps of been either further developed or moved into a more useful place, at school perhaps.

It was well worth the read though, and I will recommend it to others.

Why...

Why is it that some people use your weaknesses to make themselves better? They try to word problems so it must have been your fault. Why is it that because you have a trait that they don't want you to use, they make you feel bad about it? You aren't using it to hurt them, it is just something of your own nature. As people we are sensitive to different things, some are sensitive to light, others to touch, some to food, others to behaviour, some to minute details, others to minute sounds. It is what makes us us, us, humans. These things should not be used by others to make you feel bad on yourself, to allow them to escape a situation they may find awkward by blaming you. That is their weakness and not yours.