Review of In this way I was saved by Brian DeLeeuw

Title: In this way I was saved

Author: Brian DeLeeuw

Editorial: Simon & Schuster

Genre: Fiction

Country of origin: United States

Pages: 304

Days to finish it: 7

Books read of the author: 1

Year of publication: 2009

Personal score: 4/5

Preview: Imaginary friends, again

I don´t know if every child had an imaginary friend, only a couple of my friends had it. I still remember my imagine friends, yep, were three. They had a particularity, they were blue and faceless. Tell your parents about your imaginary friends is not very easy, now imagine telling them, they could speak but with no mouth, they could breath with no nose, and they could see with no eyes, kind of spooky, but the truth is they weren’t horrific, they were quite normal, at least two of them. One was very shy, the other was happy, and the last one was kind of… evil. I´m happy I haven’t seen them in a long time… I guess.

How did I get it?

I was reading an article about horror movies, and found Daniel isn’t real, the adaptation of this novel, so I knew I had to read this book.

A little bit of the author…

I never heard about him, he grew up in New York and he still living there. More of him to come.

Review

Luke Nightingale is a child confused by the divorce of his parents, until he meets Daniel, a mysterious child found in the playground. Soon his friendship become in something dark, and the jealousy begins. Something is not right with Daniel. The problems of Luke just started, plus the divorce, his mother gets in a big depression.

Through the picture of an imaginary friend, mental illness and emotional instability, we will discover the changes of Luke through his early age.  

Opinion

The first thing you ask in all the book is: Daniel is real? In some parts, you really think Daniel is real and Luke is just the imaginary child, but in others you really doubt who’s real. I loved the duality of the characters, I guess I didn’t research the enough about the mental disorders, but the pop cultural is very used to the multiple personality

Read in english is still very overwhelming for me, cuz I’m used to read a little bit faster, but with the books in english I try and try, and I just don’t advance. The book keeps you on track all the time, but sometimes is boring. I think the author was afraid of getting totally crazy and mad, there are a couple of scenes that could be extremely shocking, but he waits until the… you must read the book to get it.

The characters are perfect, all in a great conjunction works. We have each part of a great engine. The story is developed in great three parts: childhood, youth, adolescence. So, we have a great book, with a great idea, with a medium development, but very compliant. The story is simple, but it works greatly.

In this way I didn’t get saved.

Quotes

“You are not dumb, just incurable naive”

“I knew that each had disappointed the other, but I didn’t know how or why.”

“It was the first time I realized how strangers saw her, how she displayed her beauty to them like an exotic mask.”

“I didn’t want to live among the evidence of someone else´s memories.”

“The more he tried to rid himself of me, the less possible it would become, and in this way, I was saved.”

“She´s seeing ghosts, no, I said, she´s seeing herself and she´s scared.”

“Her skin was the boundary I could not cross.”

“She´s not smart enough for you, but what I really meant is that she was not smart enough for me.”

“I wanted the rawness, that blunt currency of lust.”

“It´s difficult to be bored if you don’t´ have any idea where you are.”

“I know where I am, I just wish I were somewhere else.”