Siri Palreddy '20 reviews two incredibly interesting reads, We Regret to Inform You and Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan
Reviewed by Siri Palreddy ’20
Mischa Abramavicius seems like the perfect student on paper: straight A’s, Vice President of Student Council, incredibly high SAT scores, a favorite with the teachers at her prep school. By the time Decision Day comes, the time when most Ivy Leagues release acceptance (and rejection) letters, she’s completely sure she’s done everything she can to get into her top schools — and if worst comes to worst (she’s hoping it won’t) she’s a shoo-in at her local safety school, Paul Revere. But when every school she applied to rejects her, even Paul Revere, Mischa is devastated at first, then extremely confused: what’s going on? As Mischa tries to get to the bottom of this entire fiasco with a group of rebel hacker girls and her best friend/crush Nate, she not only discovers some shocking secrets those in her school may be trying to hide, but also finds out more about herself as she faces the possibility of her dream college being only a dream.
Ariel Kaplan’s writing was really relatable as a high school student. She described the college process in a really truthful way, describing both the goods and bads of it, from piling extracurriculars onto your resume to the sincere joy you feel if you are accepted. She also gave us a pretty relatable character — while Mischa may be overly intense at times when it comes to school, she also wants something that most of us also do: college. However, I especially liked that Mischa was a person who was undecided about what she wanted to do in life. It showed that she hasn’t got everything in life figured out and that she’s also confused about her future. Mischa is also presented as a really funny and kind person — most overachievers are depicted as cutthroat and only focused on schoolwork, but Mischa knew how to balance both her personal and academic life.
Kaplan also maintains the mystery well throughout the novel. It wasn’t obvious to me at all who the culprit was and I was kept waiting through every step of the novel. The characters of the Ophelia Syndicate, a tech club of four girls that helps Mischa find out what happened to her applications, were also a nice addition to the book. They not only give a great example of girls being amazing at STEM, but also give advice to Mischa and help her make one especially important decision at the end of the book.
The only things I would criticize about the book are its wording and also some of the more unrealistic aspects of it. For instance, at one point in the book, Mischa says "It was good. It tasted maple-y. I like maple." And there’s also this line: “‘Oof,’ I said, because having a plastic skull under one’s nether regions was not especially pleasant.” It’s not the most sophisticated writing and that distracted me a little at times from the plot.
And as for the unrealistic aspects of the book, while I realize that the entire story is based on something that would most likely happen, the fact that Mischa and her friends were able to do some illegal activities, like easily breaking into a prep school that should have enough money to provide better security, kind of surprised me. I also found it a little unrealistic that Mischa just completely ignored her friends for almost a month during her investigations, but when she finally realized she’d been ignoring them, they all fell back into conversation without a problem.
Verdict: Overall, this is a quick read that provided an intriguing mystery — it’s not the type of book to discuss the value of college and how someone recuperates after rejection. Although the wording in the book isn’t as polished as I’d wanted it to be, this book is interesting enough to read whenever you get a chance, especially if you like a good mystery and don’t mind looking past some unrealistic aspects.
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Reviewed by Siri Palreddy ’20
Almost all of us had some sort of made-up friend when we were young. It might have been an on-and-off relationship, and maybe your friend didn’t even have a name, but at some point, we’ve all created ourselves a companion. Eventually though, those friends fade away and we can barely remember them. We think they’re gone because they were never real in the first place.
But what if your imaginary friend was real? This is the premise that Dicks ventures into as he tells the story of Max, a kid who has Asperger’s Syndrome, and his imaginary best friend Budo. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is told through the unique view of Budo, as he explains the many rules that govern the existence of imaginary friends. Firstly, imaginary friends come in all different shapes and sizes — they don’t have to be human, nor do they even have to be a living thing. An imaginary friend has all the limitations and powers that their creator grants them. Budo, for instance, actually looks more human than most other imaginary friends because Max had a very vivid imagination. While Budo can pass through doors like a ghost, he can’t sleep or even pick things up because Max never imagined Budo in that way.
Budo is there for Max at every moment — I especially like that Budo has an individuality not tied to Max. Like when Max doesn’t allow his mother to hug him, Budo feels bad for Mom and tries to encourage Max to open up. But Budo’s also always ready to keep Max away from any school bullies crossing his path. And while Budo wishes he could be there for Max forever, there’s one rule about imaginary friends that shatters that possibility: imaginary friends die when their kids don’t need them anymore.
However, Budo’s tentative future with Max is suddenly interrupted when Max is kidnapped by Ms. Patterson, a Special-Education teacher who forms a peculiar connection with Max and believes she can raise Max better. With Budo being the only witness to the abduction, he’s also Max’s only hope of being saved.
As Budo explores a world without Max on his journey to bring his best friend back, he learns more about what it means to be an imaginary friend and the sacrifices he will make to ensure Max can survive without him.
This book is a heartwarming read and Dicks ties it all together really well. I loved that this entire story was seen through the eyes of an imaginary friend rather than the kid himself. It displayed an entirely different side to how we all experienced childhood. Dicks also created a world that makes sense — all too often, authors make small inconsistencies when introducing a character from a different world. But the rules and origin of imaginary friends made sense and didn’t leave me confused about anything.
This book also has incredible writing — Dicks is actually a fifth-grade teacher and you can see that he knows kids so well. He skillfully incorporates his real-life interactions with kids into his novel.
Verdict: Overall, this is a great novel for just about anybody. It can be a little sad at times (like when Budo’s friends who are also imaginary companions fade away) so be prepared. But it’s also great to see how powerful one person in our life can be, even someone we don’t remember.
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