On a chilly November afternoon, six-year-old Luke Nightingale's life changes forever. On the playground across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he encounters Daniel. Soon the boys are hiding from dinosaurs and shooting sniper rifles. Within hours, Luke and his mother, Claire, are welcoming Daniel into their Upper East Side apartment -- and their lives. Daniel and Luke are soon inseparable. With his parents divorcing, Luke takes comfort in having a near-constant playmate. But there's something strange about Daniel, who is more than happy to bind himself to the Nightingales. The divorce has cut Luke's father out of the picture, and as his increasingly fragile mother struggles with the insidious family depression, Daniel -- shrewd, adventurous, and insightful -- provides Luke both recreation and refuge. As Luke grows from a child to an adolescent to a young man, he realizes that as much as his mother needs him, Daniel needs him more. Jealous of Luke's other attachments, Daniel moves from gestures of friendship into increasingly sinister manipulations. In the end, Luke finds himself in a daily battle for control of his own life -- wondering whether he or Daniel will emerge victorious. Brian DeLeeuw's debut is a haunting and provocative story of a family's love and madness that you will not be able to put down.
Brian DeLeeuw is a novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of two novels: THE DISMANTLING and IN THIS WAY I WAS SAVED. Along with director Adam Egypt Mortimer, he adapted the latter novel into the feature film DANIEL ISN'T REAL. He is also the co-screenwriter of PARADISE HILLS and the horror feature SOME KIND OF HATE, among other films. Most recently, he and Mortimer co-wrote the illustrated sci-fi/horror novel INVADER, with art by award-winning comics artist Jock.
i am immune to this book. it did not "keep me guessing until the very last page." it was not "so terrifying (i would) not be able to put it down." it was not "suspenseful and terrifying." in fact, i had forgotten that it was supposed to be scary, and when i returned to the back cover and remembered i had intended to be scared, i was a little pissed. "highly readable." okay, i can agree with that one. in the same sense as a spoon is highly spoonable. one can read this book, that is what it is for.
it's not that it is a bad book, it is just very medium.
it reminded me a lot of A Good and Happy Child - another "literary psychological horror" novel that left me flat. this one is about an imaginary friend with ambition. that his corporeality has been achieved is evident in the first chapter, the rest of the book is an explanation of how it came to be.
and it's not poorly written, it is just a new twist on any old story of evil twins or demonic possession or mpd: there is the vulnerability in childhood, the suggestibility to "do bad things", the animal casualties, the violent escalation in adolescence, the complications of sexuality. but this is old indian burial ground, with a fancier building erected on its ashes.
of course, this particular story has a more specific built-in ambiguity than most, as the mother of the "imaginative child" suffers from a number of mental disorders, so the interpretation-field is a little wider than most, and it can be read simultaneously in a number of ways.although the ending pretty much shows the author's intent, and it is something of a let-down.
the pacing is very good - it is a very fast read, and i did want to know how it would all play out, but ultimately, it was a cool story idea that never brought anything new to the table. and i hate leftovers.
This was such a mess. Not only wasn't it scary, thrilling or made me on the edge of my seat. I did figure out the plot twist early on and I hardly ever do otherwise, and it was a bit hard to follow along as I forgot who was speaking and what was going on. It had a cool cover but very underwhelming
Daniel and Luke are the same person residing in the mind of a multiple personality. While at first the writing was good, and in the beginning the story line was well developed, 3/4 of the way through the author seemed to feel the need to mesh a credible tale with unnecessary sex, drugs and violence and from there the book went rapidly down hill.
I finished the book in a few hours and was left with the clear thought that there were oh so many better ones waiting to be read.
NO STARS FOR THIS ONE!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Maybe some spoilers here...but I don't really think so.
Whew. This was a chore. I don't remember the last time it took me two weeks to read a less than 300 page book. But, here we are.
This was kind of a mess with some dashes of brilliance throughout. It isn't entirely sure what it wants to be from the beginning. Is Daniel a doppelganger? Is Daniel just a part of Luke's fractured psyche? Is he a second personality fighting for control? Personally, I think the last one is what DeLeeuw was going for here but he attempts to inject both a doppelganger narrative AND a mental illness narrative. These are not the same things. At all. And it just leaves you scratching your head. I'm still not entirely sure just what happened at the end and, frankly, I don't really care at this point.
Not a lot happens throughout this story. It felt like a bunch of jumbled scenes stuck together without a lot of cohesion and this brought me a great deal of frustration. I nearly didn't finish it. Had DeLeeuw chosen a specific path to put these characters on and built into it, we could have gotten some closure with these people but, hell...I don't even really understand what happened to Luke's mother. I'm sure it all has something to do with this mental illness being hereditary but it isn't entirely clear on that so...It mostly just leaves you lost.
All that being said there is some great stuff here and there. The writing isn't terrible, it's just a mostly boring story, so I believe this guy has some talent as an author. Some of his ideas and use of metaphor, especially when in reference to mental illness, is really beautifully done. There are strokes of genius tossed throughout this book as well as a few instances of actually terrifying scenes.
On top of the really bad cover, it just didn't work for me, in the end. It didn't flow very well, it didn't feel consistent or coherent and I still am not entirely sure just what happened at the end. I don't need everything wrapped up in a neat little bow but SOME answers would be nice. "Daniel Isn't Real" comes out December 6th, 2019...the trailers look great but I can only hope it's a lot better than the book. (Update...the movie sucked too. 🙄)
So many readers rated this novel unfavorably that I almost didn't read it, but there were some who seemed to love it. So, I figured what the heck. My impression is the author clamped onto an idea he thought was novel (it wasn't) and doggedly pursued it to completion. I can see how an author could fall in love with his own idea, but the folks at Simon and Schuster? That's mind boggling. Anyway, there were moments when I actually had hope that the story would vindicate the effort, but, unfortunately, it fell flat with an unimaginative cliche of an ending. If you were thinking about reading this one, forgetaboutit.
I'm only 24 pages in but already know the main characters are the same person. It was given away too easy, no parent doesn't insist that a six year old child check in with his parents.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
7 days and 295 pages after. It´s just the fifth book in english i´ve read in this year, it seems i won´t accomplish the goal of the year.
The way i found this book was very curious, i was reading bout horror movies, and one of the most flashy was Daniel isnt real, after seeing the trailer i bought the book months ago.
This book is about an imaginary friend, but, is imaginary or not? Who´s the imaginary?
Read in english is still very tired for me, i really want to read faster, but i just couldn´t. Of course the book keeps you interested, but have so many parts useless. It´s a simple history (not so simple) that works, developed in three diferent moments of the life of the character.
The worst part is the ending, that still not very clear, i wanna see the movie more than ever.
The characters are wonderful, and that duality is very exciting. For being a first novel i believe is wonderful and enjoyable.
This was definitely a, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" moment for me. I have had this book sitting on my book shelf for over two years and almost gave it away because I didn't like the photo on front cover, but the reviews on the back cover caught my attention. I decided to read the book and once I started it I couldn't put it down. What an amazing book! Also, amazing that this is the first book by Brian DeLeeuw and hopefully, not his last.
"In This Way I Was Saved" is a mind bending, twisted and amazing story about two people, Luke and Daniel that will keep you guessing until the very end of the story of what just happened! The circumstances are typical situations that can happen growing up between early childhood to college years but the characters are totally twisted and unique, but make for a very creative and well-written book. Actually, I think this would make a really good movie.
I originally bought this book because there is a movie based on it, and I am one of those people who dig reading the book first, then seeing the movie.
It was interestingly told through the strange worldview of the narrator, who is . You watch Luke grow up through the narrator's (Daniel's) eyes, and you begin to wonder how deeply Luke's mental illness runs.
I think this novel is a good representation of character study. I never would have thought to write a story from the perspective of , and I think DeLeeuw pulls it off well.
Notice I took off a star. That's because there is all of this build, only for the ending to piss me off. It wrapped things up, but I was left with questions that did not get answers.
I hope the movie does a better job of wrapping things up, or answers questions that I didn't find in the book.
Final conclusion/tl;dr: Interesting premise, written nicely but left me with questions at the end.
I bought this book after watching the excellent Daniel Isn’t Real, and I must say I’m disappointed. I can see how the novel birthed the film, but the imagery and themes I loved so much from Daniel Isn’t Real are totally absent from In This Way I Was Saved. It’s an okay book about mental illness, depression and poor parenting. I understand the isolated nature of the narrator - the need for disassociation - but it does make the whole thing rather clinical and divorced from emotion. Well written but could have done more with the idea and pales in comparison to the film adaptation.
El libro tiene mejores ideas que la película, pero esta última las ejecuta mejor en la mayoría de su desarrollo.
El libro es entretenido, pero considero que es bastante dócil en el desarrollo y la narración, cosa que evita que la trama explote y llegué a un gran punto, momento o final.
Lo recomiendo como una historia algo original, pero no como una historia de horror.
3.5 stars. At first I thought this was told from the point of view of an imaginary friend, but as it moved through Luke and Daniels life (as well as Claire’s) I was thinking it was told from the POV of the split personality. Well told story that is so believable it is scary.
In his début novel, Brian DeLeeuw brings us a story about two boys. One of the boys is real, while the other isn’t – but you may have a hard time deciding which is which. Our narrator is Daniel, who met Luke in the playground, when the latter was six. Luke is the only person who can see him; yet Daniel seems no common-or-garden ‘imaginary friend’, having apparently attained consciousness. Daniel returns home with Luke, to find a household under strain: Luke’s mother, Claire, is fragile, still affected by her own mother’s suicide; when an incident brings matters to a head, she leaves, taking Luke with her.
One day, Claire has a surprise for Luke – she’s bought him a pet dog. This new friend starts to take Daniel’s place in Luke’s life, so much so that Daniel finds his very self disintegrating. In a bid for survival, Daniel tricks Luke into poisoning the dog with some of Claire’s medication. She, of course, doesn’t believe her son when he says that Daniel told him to do it, and takes Luke to see a psychiatrist. Soon after, Luke is able to restrain Daniel, eventually locking him away inside his head, for twelve whole years. But, when Luke is eighteen, Daniel re-emerges – with his own ideas of what Luke should do, who Luke should be.
In This Way I Was Saved is quite a difficult book to evaluate. How do you judge characterisation, for example, when you can’t even trust that the narrator is – well, is, full stop? Well, let’s see: DeLeeuw has created a chilling presence in Daniel, a narrator who’s just that bit too knowing, whose voice is that bit too articulate. Not to mention that his opinions are also pretty vile; Daniel has little patience for humans and their messy emotions: when Luke finds a girl in whose company he can relax and forget his cares, Daniel just takes the view that Luke is being insincere – and the situation Daniel then engineers is not a pleasant one. As a portrait of such a cold individual, the book is a great success.
Yet there’s ambiguity here, too, as it’s possible to read Daniel as being entirely a product of Luke’s delusion. This is a more difficult reading to make, because the narration naturally invites us to view Daniel as a separate entity; and I’m not sure that the novel sustains its ambiguity through to the end. But it’s fascinating to read a scene and see it happening in two different ways simultaneously; DeLeeuw interweaves the possibilities well. The reading of Daniel-as-delusion also deepens the book’s portrait of people and lives unravelling; it’s harrowing for characters and readers alike.
In This Way I Was Saved is not without its flaws. I feel a sense of distance in the progression of the plot – as though it’s happening rather than being made to happen – which I think arises because neither Luke nor Daniel is able to truly drive the story directly. Nevertheless, I am impressed with what DeLeeuw has done in his novel. It’s easy to assume, from the first few pages, that you know who Daniel is and what has happened. I read most of the book thinking, it can’t be that simple – and, happily, it’s not.
No more of that, though, for it’s the road to spoilers. To conclude: In This Way I Was Saved is an intriguing puzzle of a book which takes you into a mind that’s not a comfortable place to visit, but that visit is compelling all the same. Whose mind is it, though? There’s a question to ponder…
Luke and Daniel met when Luke was 6 - and then Daniel came to stay with them... for the rest of Luke's life.
(Warning: "explicit" language is used. Not for innocent ears... or eyes.)
You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:
Books that don't tell you what's actually happening Childhood Mental Illness Family Murder Mystery
Goodreads users gave this book a 3.24. I think it was more deserving of a 3.00.
Pros: If you need something that will keep you entertained, this will certainly do it. I'm pretty sure I said "what the fuck" more in the last two days than I have in the last year. This was basically the biggest mind-trip. Nothing made sense, and everything made sense. If you want a book that literally leaves everything to the imagination, this will let you do it. This couldn't have been a better movie - and maybe I might know what the hell was happening. It kind of felt like, Gone Girl, not knowing what was actually happening - and once you think you know, that theory is ripped out of possibility. (I asked "what the fuck a lot in that movie, too.)
Now, reading this from the perspective of Daniel, instead of Luke, is definitely interesting... and I wonder if that's what made it feel so, mysterious. But it was definitely a good choice on the author's part.
Cons: As much as not knowing what was happening was a positive, it wasn't helpful when the book ended. I'll always remember this book as the book that left me hanging (and some people will love this, but I needed answers about Daniel, Luke, even Claire... hell, the epilogue itself needs to provide some answers).
As weird as this is, Luke is said to graduate high school at 19 - and make some legal decisions for himself at 21... but the legal age (or a state in which adulthood is declared) in the United States is 18, in every state. So it was really bothesome that a seemingly smart student was graduating at 19, and not able to make personal decisions for himself at 21. I'm not sure if the author is just an idiot, or if there was some reason that was listed that I didn't catch (although, I find this hard to believe because he was a junior at 18, which could make sense... but without repeating a grade, 19 is the age at which you're well out of high school).
And finally this book was nearly 300 pages - and it was so repetitive. For example, I think we spent nearly two chapters reading about Richard's 'out-there' behavior; we really could've covered it in a single chapter - however, I would've preferred just a few pages on his behavior and how it influenced both Daniel and Luke. I hate books that write without a purpose. And this book did that a lot - which may be contributed to the fact that this guy never wrote a book prior (and only one after). It was kind of like, 'blah, blah, important stuff here for 2 pages, then blah blah for 43 pages, then important stuff here for 1 page, etc.'
When we first meet Luke, he is a 6-year-old boy playing on a New York City playground, where he’s just befriended another little boy named Daniel. The story is told through Daniel’s narrative, so it takes a while to realize there is something not quite right about Daniel; it takes longer to come to the same realization about Luke. “In This Way I Was Saved” is a debut novel about a young man struggling to come of age without his absentee father, who ran off to start another family after he realized he couldn’t deal with Luke’s mother’s mental illness. Luke’s mother Claire runs a family-owned publishing company. She took over after her own mother, who also struggled with mental illness, ended her own life. Luke’s mother often locks herself in her bedroom for weeks on end, emerging as if nothing has happened, leaving young Luke to fend for himself. Daniel often takes care of Luke during these episodes. In telling this story, Daniel eventually realizes he is not a real person, yet he yearns to gain control over Luke’s actions and thoughts. Early on in their friendship, Daniel talks Luke into killing their family puppy. After Claire finds the corpse and Luke tells her that Daniel is at fault, Claire recognizes something in this behavior and rushes Luke to a psychiatrist. After regular sessions with his doctor, Luke is able to banish Daniel for many years. However, during one of Claire’s particularly bad episodes when Luke is 18-years-old, Daniel comes back into the forefront, and Luke takes him off to college with him. Luke struggles to contain Daniel’s behavior throughout many new endeavors in college. He finds it difficult to make friends, and he knows Daniel will always be there for him. He allows Daniel to stay with him, yet tries to stave off the evil that emanates from Daniel. Finding it to be a losing battle, Luke gives in to some of Daniel’s ongoing commentary; just enough for something truly terrible to happen. Just enough for Luke to rush back to the city to talk to his former psychiatrist to try to find out how Daniel emerged and how to get rid of Daniel forever. An interesting story, told from an interesting point of view, this keeps you guessing until the end on how things will turn out. Foreshadowing allows that no good will come of this story, however the reader pulls for Luke nonetheless.
Typically, I don't track down books after seeing the movie, as I prefer to read the book first. But I saw Daniel Isn't Real at The Overlook Film Festival and had a chance to speak with the director, ho recommended reading the book, not only because the author was a good friend of his, but because the book is so different from the film.
If you have not seen Daniel Isn't Real yet, the movie will not spoil the book, nor will the book spoil the film. The book is told from the perspective of a different character from the movie, and many of the story details are radically different between the two works.
That said, In This Way I Was Saved is the story of Daniel and Luke, who meet as young children. Daniel is a very interesting friend....perhaps imaginary....perhaps something much darker. I don't want to spoil the surprises that the book throws at the reader. The writing is solid and vivid, and Daniel is a likable narrator even when he is at his most despicable. I loved this book.
I felt like this novel had a lot of potential, though, to be honest, I was literally judging it by the cover--so cool. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. DeLeeuw, a first-time novelist, does a lot of things well. He has a great voice, and the pacing is nice, but ultimately, I didn't feel like there was much heart to the book, and perhaps that's just the nature of narrating from a non-human perspective--it isn't really relatable. It was interesting, and though he shows you what's ahead early on, I still found myself fighting against it to the end, which at least tells me I was engaged, but I really wish the story had been stronger.
It was hard to put this book down. You see all the characters through the eyes of an imaginary friend, or a doppelganger, or a personality - it is hard to tell, but an intriguing premise that is fleshed out into a disturbing tale. I feel like thanking the author for taking such a unique perspective!
This was a very disturbing book. Sometimes I could hardly bring myself to read the next sentence for fear of what was going to happen. And I LIKE suspense and thrillers and horror. There was just something so awful about Daniel that I had trouble reading this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Gerade als sein Leben nach der Scheidung seiner Eltern aus den Fugen gerät, findet Luke auf dem Spielplatz einen Freund und nimmt ihn mit nach Hause. von da an ist Daniel immer bei ihm. Dass außer ihm niemand den neuen Freund zu bemerken scheint, stört Luke nicht. Daniel dagegen sehr und er unternimmt alles, um die ungeteilte Aufmerksamkeit zu bekommen. Dabei ist ihm gleichgültig, ob er Luke damit in Gefahr bringt. Erst viel zu spät greift die Lukes Mutter ein und vertreibt Daniel aus Lukes Leben.
Vieles an der Geschichte finde ich sehr gut, anderes dagegen nur durchschnittlich. So hat mir der Konflikt zwischen Luke und Daniel sehr gut gefallen. Wie Daniel versucht, sein Leben ohne seinen "Freund" in den Griff zu bekommen und ihm das immer weniger gelingt, hat der Autor sehr eindrucksvoll beschrieben. Andere Sachen konnte ich nicht verstehen. Lukes Mutter ist offensichtlich krank, trotzdem bleibt ihr Sohn bei ihr. Wieso hat ihn der Vater nicht früher zu sich genommen? Und wieso hat Luke irgendwann aufgehört, seine Medikamente zu nehmen. Dieser Punkt wurde nur in soweit erwähnt, dass Luke in seinem Badezimmerschränkchen volle Tablettenflaschen findet.
Nach dem starken Anfang habe ich mehr von dem Buch erwartet, als ich letztendlich bekommen habe.
I am so, so confused by this book. I really don't know what to say, as I don't fully understand the ending at all... It was highly readable, and it was well paced with well developed characters, but I just don't quite understand the premise of the book. I get that Daniel is another personality of Luke, but I'm confused as to whether Daniel is a supernatural spirit who moves from one person to the next or whether it's just a metaphor for split personality disorder. Is that open to interpretation or am I missing something? And what was it Luke was trying to work out by seeing Dr Clayton at the end of the book? I'd like to discuss this further with someone as I did find it interesting, but I just don't fully understand the ending. I probably wouldn't recommend it as it's just odd and hard to understand what exactly the point of the novel is (?) but it's something different and I don't regret reading it as such. 2 1/2 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I watched Daniel Isn’t Real before reading this book, so I already had an idea of what it was about. It made the experience all the more enjoyable, even more so because it’s from Daniel’s perspective.
I don’t think Brian was hiding that Daniel was imaginary at all, and I think it’s funny that people thought that was the major secret. The big question is who or what Daniel is and what his motive is, which it seems not even Daniel truly knows outright. I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for Daniel or angry with him, and that’s good writing.
I enjoyed the prose-like writing as I tend to write the same way, but there were a lot (and I mean A LOT) of metaphors and similes in almost every paragraph. That only somewhat detracted from the reading experience because I enjoyed the story overall. And with it being his debut novel (I think?), you can’t fault a writer for being elaborate like that.
I picked this up after seeing the film adaptation, which I thought was excellent, but it left me wanting more backstory.
In that way I found reading the book partially satisfied my curiosity, however as with the movie, I find the “rules of the world” kind of fall apart in the third act. I suspect that this may have been deliberate on the author’s part, making us question what is real and what is imaginary, but for me it felt confused. I kept skipping back to find something I’d missed only to find I hadn’t actually missed anything.
I really wanted to like this one more and I may revisit it in the future in the hopes of finding my “aha” moment, in which case I’ll return to update my review.
I’m not sure whether I truly enjoyed this or not. It kept me reading, and parts of it intrigued me but I feel as though I kept reading more to just get through it so I could move on to something else. No characters were likeable. It was dull in parts and the author often used several paragraphs to say what a sentence could have done. Knowing this started as a short story, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it stayed as just that. It wasn’t a bad book but it didn’t have enough about it to make it good... I would not do a reread. The movie was better, which is not something I say often.
I read this book after watching it's film adaption "Daniel Isn't Real" (which has now become one of my favorite indie films) and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the film! It was interesting to see this story being told from Daniel's perspective and I like how it covers a lot more of Luke's life. It's interesting how the book is left at a more "open" ending, where we still don't know what Daniel really is, only that he must be more than just a part of Luke's imagination. The writing style was to me very captivating as well and I simply couldn't put this book down!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.