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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

129 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: October 6, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Imaginative • Quiet • Tragic

📖 S Y N O P S I S

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

💭 T H O U G H T S

It's quite possible I am the last person to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, as this book took Bookstagram by storm upon release. Personally, I was glad some of the hype had receded, as it afforded me the opportunity to go at my own pace and develop my own thoughts and feelings free of being bombarded with reviews and hype. And to be quite honest, the whole experience was rather dizzying and don't exactly know how I ended up feeling.

On the one hand, V.E. Schwab's writing was mesmerizing, atmospheric, and haunting. Although I didn't always know what was going on, I was transported into the story so vividly. Addie, herself, is a fairly unlikeable character, yet I could find myself empathizing with the why. There's such a strength in what this unique and clever story attempted to do.

Yet on the other hand, because of the structurally necessary repetitive descriptions I was never compelled to keep reading. I never found myself thinking about the narrative or characters when I wasn't reading. It lacked a depth I craved so badly. This sense of detachment made it feel longer than it actually is.

And finally, I found myself completely satisfied with the ending, meaning I finished on a high note and that's kind of what I focus on when I think back to my time with Addie. Taken in pieces, there are a lot of mixed feelings, yet it is a real testament to making the most of the time we have.

I do certainly understand why The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is beloved by so many. It's such a unique and fascinating idea, yet for me the reading experience was tedious. I am not sure I have been convinced to explore more of V.E. Schwab's work, but you just never know.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife
• readers who like unique stories

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"'Nothing is all good or all bad,' she says. 'Life is so much messier than that.'"

"Live long enough, and you learn how to read a person. To ease them open like a book, some passages underlined and others hidden between the lines."

"And perhaps it is just that happiness is frightening."

Content Warnings

saoirsekelly's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I struggled around the 70% mark, but that’s very common for me. Was absolutely worth finishing, really enjoyed discovering how it played out.

Content Warnings

lou_ka's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked the story's writing and general premise, but the ending disappointed me. It was a bit too much about giving oneself up for someone else. Although the author probably tried to reduce it with the last few pages by framing it as a strategic choice, it was not really believable to me. But this might also be cause I could not really bond with the characters.

Content Warnings

assassinsweettea's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

wildflowerx's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

My charity shop find of the year. Yes, 2023 is not over yet, but that's it, I know that.

I purposely took some time before writing this review because I wanted to see if I would still think about it after finishing it. 24 hours later, I have my answer, and the answer is YES, I've been thinking about it all day. Some books leave a mark, and they just make me happy to be alive and to be able to read and live, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of them.

Summary
Adeline LaRue is a young woman living in a small village in France in the 18th century who dreams a life of freedom and adventures. As she's about to get married to a man she doesn't love, she begs the Gods to help her. Darkness answers her prayers. He agrees to letting her live forever, granting her an immortal life of pure freedom in exchange of her soul. But the deal is a curse, and Addie is condemned to never be remembered by anyone, ever. Until 300 years later, when in a New York bookstore she meets Henry.

Plot
The book is definitely character driven. If this is something you aren't into and would rather read a book with a clear plot, then I don't think it's going to be for you. To me, TILOAL felt almost like a diary, alternating moments from Addie's long - and mostly heartbreaking - past, narrated in chronological order, and events from a nearer time. The title is pretty explicative: you are going to be reading her whole life, including how it comes to an "end".

Writing
The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and makes me want to read more work from Schwab. The lexicon is not complex, yet it is poetic and evocative. I felt so much while reading this book, and it doesn't happen often. I could feel all the anxiety and dread and panic as Addie was feeling trapped in a life she didn't want.

What Schwab does beautifully too is using art as an active part of her storytelling. I loved how art is used as a device to discover more about Addie's life, but the most beautiful aspect of it is that it symbolised how although she was destined to be forgotten, she left such a mark on people that she was always remembered in a way.

Main characters & relationships
Addie is the protagonist, and I love her just because of how ordinary she is at first. A girl who dreams of escaping the reality she's trapped in, who is ready to get outside of her comfort zone. And that continues after the curse, and perhaps her desire to Live is even stronger. Ultimately, it's what keeps her going and fighting Luc, it's what pushes her to take what she can from a curse who took her dreams and desires to the extremes and twisted them into her nightmares. Yes, she lives, but she's always alone, and lonely, and hungry. Yes, she's free, nobody (but Luc) can control her. But nobody remembers her. She can't work, she can only steal and sell her body. She has nobody who loves her. She has no home.
I could empathise so much with her desire to run away and explore, and then with her loneliness. I felt like crying a lot throughout the book, especially as we explored her first year after the curse. I wanted to hug her so badly. I felt she changed over the course of the centuries, but she still remained herself in a way. I love, love, love her. I also loved how her story is a big metaphor for all the forgotten women in history. Had it not been for art and books, what would be left of them?

And now the two men of the story. Luc (the Darkness/Devil) and Henry, and Addie's relationship with them, play an essential role in her story.
On the one hand we have Luc, the darkness, the cause of her suffering, but also the reason why she got to live this long, experience this much. Luc, the shadows, who takes the shape of the man of her dreams, who every year on their "anniversary", the 29th of July, tried to persuade her to give up on the life she sold her soul for, and which he made his best to make miserable. Luc, who does his best to ruin every small bit of happiness she manages to conquer, and who wants to be the reason she breaks.

As the story progresses, Luc develops a morbid obsession for Addie, an obsession which he calls "love", but which could never be real love. Luc who is her abuser, but also the only person who remembers her for 300 years. I would be lying if I said their relationship and the toxic power dynamic wasn't interesting to read. In fact, it was definitely one of the most exciting parts. But I can't see him as a love interest, he wasn't.

And on the other hand we have sweet and kind Henry, who is a bit lost, and doesn't feel like he really belongs and like he found his way. I'm his age as I read this, and I couldn't emphasise with him more. What a weird decade, your 20s.
He and Addie helped each others in ways nobody else could, and were there for each other in ways nobody else could have. I so feel like "right person wrong time" fits their relationship perfectly. He's perhaps not as an interesting character as Luc, but he was exactly what Addie needed, and vice versa. I really loved him.

Ending
It's been 24 hours since I finished the book, and I still don't know how to feel about the ending. I'm definitely a bit broken.

A bit broken for Henry, who really loved her, and despite being heartbroken after she left, made sure that everyone knew about her by writing her story, and made sure everyone knew that it was HER story. He was just his pen when she couldn't be one. A bit (a lot) broken for Addie, too, because after centuries she had finally found some normalcy, and happiness, and love with someone kind, and caring, and smart who adored her. And she had to give up on it and go with Luc because of the deal Henry stroke with Luc. And because of Luc's unwillingness to let her go, and to let her and Henry go.

I had no clue of how it was going to end, but overall, I think it's a satisfying one, though I'm not normally a fan of open endings. I really hope she makes Luc pay. Such a shame we'll never see how she manages to get her revenge.

Content Warnings