Review: Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

by:  Matthew Dicks
published by:  MacMillan Audio
publish date:  August 21, 2012

Budo is Max's imaginary friend. But though only Max can see him, he is real. He and the other imaginary friends watch over their children until the day comes that the child stops imagining them. And then they're gone. Budo has lasted a lot longer than most imaginary friends - four years - because Max needs him more.

This book is one of the biggest surprises for me of the year.  I was blown away by how emotional and heart-wrenching this book was at times.  That might be because of what an awesome job the narrator, Matthew Brown, did with the audiobook.  The story was absolutely fantastic, but Mr. Brown brought Budo to life just as surely as Max Delaney did.

In Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend when a child creates an imaginary friend they are real.  Only, no one but the child that created him (and other imaginary friends) can hear or see him.  The imaginary friends spend their lives existing at the whim of the child until that child no longer needs it, then it will cease to exist. 

Max Delaney needs Budo because he's got problems.  Those problems are never specified, but adults might recognize it as being something like autism.  Max and Budo have enough troubles to deal with until something completely unexpected and unbelievable happens.  Max and Budo will have to rely on each other like never before to make it though.

I highly recommend this book and especially the audiobook to everybody.  It's seriously an amazing story and one you won't soon forget.  It'll be a book club hit I'm sure!