This review of the book Imaginary Friends by Singaporean author Melanie Lee is a long overdue one and I do apologise to my friend Melanie for the delay! Imaginary Friends is her first collection of short stories that’s been published and the fables inside were spun off from the Blogging from A-Z Challenge in which she had taken part in last year.

While the characters are cartoon-like, the book is actually targeted at adults with a wicked sense of humour and perhaps a slightly cynical sense of the world. There are 26 fables, with each letter of the alphabet personified as a character – there’s  Annie the Ambitious Apple to Zelda the Zealous Zither. Each fable ends with a nugget of wry wisdom, such as that for Greta the Grouchy Grape who was perpetually surly, unlike the other grapes in the bunch who were always perky; being a sour grape only leads to a sorry ending (Greta gets dumped in the trash). Then there’s Jessa the Jaded Jelly Bean who is tired of being a less popular Juicy Pear flavour and longs to be at the top of the jar. To allow this, other less delectable-sounding flavours like Vomit and Booger had to be introduced in the name of democracy and social mobility. Moral? Democracy is messy – you have to take the good with the bad.

For a taste of what Imaginary Friends is about, click here to read what the story of Timmy the Tenancious Teabag has to teach you. Imaginary Friends is a short 83 pages long and makes for easy reading whenever you need to take your mind off the more serious matters in life.

For me, what’s special about this book is that it’s the first time I’ve been thanked in the Acknowledgements of a book! I helped proofread the final manuscript and am happy to have played a part in helping Melanie with the publication.

To purchase the print edition of Imaginary Friends, go to MPH Online for international deliveries. In Singapore and Malaysia, Imaginary Friends is available at MPH and Kinokuniya bookstores. The ebook is available at Amazon and Kobo.

Melanie Lee is a Singaporean freelance writer based in Singapore who specialises in travel and heritage while also dabbling in fiction.