Reviews with content warning for Addiction - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

3.00

This is certainly an…interesting read. The characters are definitely intriguing, but the relationships between them don’t really feel… sincere? I guess it feels like Addie’s connections with people are supposed to be the most important part, but none of them really feel compelling to me.

Even with Henry or Luc. Her feelings for Henry— and his feelings in return, I think— seem to only come from a place of deep loneliness. That’s very impactful, for sure, but it doesn’t make me feel much other than sadness. Maybe that’s the point? I’m not sure. Then Luc only knows obsession; that’s obvious. Addie’s feelings of attachment to him only shows her loss of humanity, in my opinion. Especially when it’s obvious that she still has a deep hatred and resentment for him.

The pacing is slow for my tastes, but I recognize that that’s the type of story being told here. The prose in this novel is very dramatic and stirring; I appreciate that, but the plot drags a bit. The ending of this novel definitely leaves you with a lot of mixed emotions, but it’s solid. Hard to swallow if you’re not a fan of open endings, though.

Quality of Writing: 8/10
Pacing: 5/10
Plot Development: 5/10
Characters: 9/10
Enjoyability: 6/10
Ease of Reading: 3/10
Ending: 6/10

Content Warnings

lorenp's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

melv32's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.0

Boring, repetitive, slow and there were no stakes until the very end

Content Warnings

exlibrissum's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

the_books_music_life's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a love letter to/for artists of every kind. This book holds so much in it’s pages, not just a story of a girl who made a deal; but of grief, guilt, stubbornness, love and loss, power dynamics and struggles of everyday life.

Addie LaRue might be one of my favorite characters ever written. She is stubborn, wise, loves with her whole heart and tries to make the best out of bad situations and has grown stronger because of it. She makes mistakes but she shows growth from those mistakes, she takes responsibility for them and while she may regret them she doesn’t wallow in the unfairness of it all.

The prose in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is so incredibly beautiful and the many, many, many quotes I’ve tagged in this book that made me feel something or made me think could fill up a whole other book.

Every character -no matter if it’s a main character, a side character, or a character we meet once- is written like a real person. They have wants, needs, problems, passions and you hardly ever see that in a book. Especially one that spans over so much time as Addie’s story does.

I don't think I have the words to express my thoughts on this book, not really. This book touched something in me and broke something in me; if my 10 minute cry fest at the end of the book says anything.

I will admit I’ve restarted this book 3 times, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the story itself, I’ve just been getting over a reading slump and I still have my moments where I don’t read for a bit and I forget and have to start over. Which I honestly don’t mind because I really love what I’ve read (3 times so far 😂) so far.

I love the narrator of the audiobook, she does a wonderful job and the fact she can speak and can do a french accent is perfect. (I don’t know if the narrator is in fact French or not)

Overall I would recommend this book a million times over and it deserves all the awards in my opinion.

Content Warnings