Imaginary Crimes

This book is very well written. The author employs a mix of first and third person narrators and for that reason alone, is well worth reading if you find different kinds of writing styles interesting. Also, if you are looking for a vivid page-turner, this book will give you that too. The story is written from the point of view of a young girl/woman living in a highly dysfunctional family. The characters inhabit a convincingly depressing world, made even more so by the setting of the Pacific Northwest. Personally, I found it too depressing to enjoy, yet I couldn't put it down. The title Imaginary Crimes is ingenuis when you discover that the family members in the book consider themselves to be Christian Scientists, although their lifestyle would not be recognizable to a great many of the Christian Scientists that I have known. The themes are heavy duty: religion, faith, truth, domestic abuse, fidelity, depression, poverty. If the title is to be a guide, I would say the strongest theme is hypocrisy, which is always well worth an author's time to explore. Personally, I felt the author dealt with these themes too superficially. She presented a group of characters struggling in a difficult world, and then absolved us all of any responsibility by blaming a character and a religion for that world, both of which are so extreme that few of us can identify with them. It seems like the typical situation where one says "look at THEM, they are the problem" as if THEY are aliens or something, rather than a product of humanity. It is as if to say we could never be just like them given the right circumstances, and for that reason, I feel the book does a disservice to the themes it is trying to address. And finally, if you can identify with the children in this story even remotely, be prepared to receive an emotional punch.

This novel, which differs IMMENSELY from the 1994 film of the same name, is one of empathy, compassion, and of growing up uncertain. It basically says that whatever someone's view of the past, no one is to blame. It's told from the view of Sonya Weiler, starting in the late 1940's and ending in the early 70's. Sonya's relationships with everyone around her are shown with an unjudgemental eye and a listening ear.