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Imaginary Friends

A Novel

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About this listen

Tom McCann, a professor of sociology, and his young assistant, Roger, infiltrate a religious cult group based in New York State, deciding it will make excellent study material. But they find it hard to maintain their deception, especially as Verena, the cult's leader, is an attractive woman.

©1967 Alison Lurie (P)2014 Audible Inc. Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological
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An odd and engaging idea for a novel, where a sociology professor and his young sidekick, who tells the story, find their way into a small town group of religious fanatics meaning to study the group dynamics. I don’t want to say too much as I wouldn’t want to give anything away, but I did wonder if Alison Lurie had written this book tongue in cheek, but mostly it shows the impact of the cult on the sociologists, who let go of their professional attachment in the face of group lunacy. I thought the narrator was wonderful in the way he bought the novel to life and in some places, had me laughing aloud. But ultimately this book is clever, with a clever ambiguous twist at the end. Definitely highly recommended.

Funny, clever with a wonderful narrator

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I read this many years ago, in part because it's one of the very few books were sociologists feature as the main characters. Despite the fact that the professional context is a little dated now, it's observations on academic attitudes and actions remain pertinent. However, you certainly don't have to be a social scientist to enjoyed this book. A Professor and a post-doctoral student infiltrate a small 'religious' sect that adds an extraterrestrial twist to the usual menu of supernatural belief systems. Predictably, it doesn't go well. Though the inevitable repetition of a lot of very daft beliefs held by the group can get occasionally irritating, there is rich potential for comic as well as humane insights into the well drawn characters as two world's collide. The narrators ability to capture a large variety of voices adds to the pleasures.

An enduring delight

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