Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

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

94 reviews

daniofthewood's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Biphobia, Cancer, Toxic relationship, War, and Terminal illness

isfantasi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: War, Sexism, and Biphobia

alexlynx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

Be patient with this book. It follows paths that you feel like you don't want to take. Give it time. I personally have a love-hate relationship with books that jump between time so much that at some point you can barely make out where the plot starts and where it ends. But this book has a very definitive start and end, only the middle is blurred. I got lost in it, and it was beautiful, and sad, and madning, and insane, inspiring, wonderful. Her writing is addictive to a point where I'm almost annoyed at myself for how long it took to finally continue reading this book. And I also want to scream at her for the things these characters have to go through, and for how attached to them I got.
Insanely beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Death

claire_leibovitz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: War and Biphobia

kathrynok's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

breaklikeafish's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ich bin ein großer Fan von Büchern, in denen eigentlich gar nicht besonders viel passiert und die einen irgendwie trotzdem berühren. Das unsichtbare Leben der Addie LaRue punktet vor allem mit sympathischen, dreidimensionalen Charakteren und einem spannenden anachronistischem Aufbau, der einen das Buch bis zum Schluss nicht aus der Hand legen lassen möchte, um endlich zu erfahren, was los ist.

Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Addie und Henry selbst hat mich eher wenig abgeholt, denn erstens hat die Beziehung sich für meinen Geschmack zu schnell entwickelt (

unter den Umständen total verständlich, sie standen ja unter enormen Zeitdruck

) und zweitens

hat das ganze auf mich ein bisschen so gewirkt, als wären sie nur zusammen, weil sie ihre Flüche neutralisieren und das reicht meiner Meinung nach nicht als Basis für eine Beziehung aus.

Gerade deswegen habe ich das Ende geliebt. Es war ein wunderbarer Abschluss der Charakterentwicklung beider Protagonisten. Im letzten Drittel hatte ich sehr Bedenken, dass es ein klassisches Happy End geben würde, was ich sehr unbefriedigend gefunden hätte: mir ist einfach keine Möglichkeit eingefallen, wie Addie und Henry einen Antogonisten austricksen könnten, der uns als praktisch allmächtig präsentiert wird. Umso erleichterter war ich über Addies Opfer.

Die Funktionsweise von Addies Fluch wurde auf sehr interessante Weise erklärt. Ich mochte vor allem die Kapitel, in denen man als Leser mit ihr gemeinsam die Grenzen und Schlupflöcher austesten konnte, und den Kontrast zur Addie der Gegenwart, die schon alles über den Fluch zu wissen schien. Sowieso spiegelt Addies Fluch so wundervoll die menschlichen Bedürfnisse nach Freiheit und danach, Spuren zu hinterlassen, wider, dass die Geschichte weitaus weniger fantastisch wirkt als sie ist. Unweigerlich fragt man sich auch, was man aufgeben würde, um frei oder geliebt oder gesehen zu werden.

Henrys Abmachung hat mich hier besonders hart getroffen. Seine Gedanken und Gefühle waren so intensiv beschrieben, dass man als Leser absolut verstehen kann, wieso er eine solche Abmachung getroffen hat.

Addies Fokus auf romantische Beziehungen hat mich ein bisschen gestört. Offensichtlich vermisst sie jegliche Art von zwischenmenschlichem Kontakt und sagt das auch oft, aber ihre einschneidensten Begegnungen mit Menschen scheinen fast alle mit einem Date und oft einem One-Night-Stand zu enden.

Insgesamt ein sehr gutes Buch! Es hat eine Weile gedauert, bis ich drin war, aber dann wurde es mit jeder Seite besser und hörte mit einem absolut perfekten Ende auf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexism and Violence

Minor: Sexual content and War

nineinchnails's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

this is definitely a no plot just vibes type of book and very slow paced so i can absolutely understand why so many people didn't enjoy this or even manage to get through it, HOWEVER i loved this. i am a sucker for pretty prose though and the prose was gorgeous in this book so i'm a little biased. most of the criticism for this book is warranted but this story and its characters really appealed to me. i wish we got more on addie's time in new orleans though, it seemed like it would have given some more insight into

her and luc's relationship + would've given luc more depth. it feels like we barely got to know him

.

it definitely could have been condensed just a little because "no plot just vibes" isn't much of an exaggeration and i'm not sure how it managed to be 500+ pages long but i can enjoy a slow book when i like the writing. the ending did feel slightly anticlimactic but it was more bittersweet than anything else to me. not sure if i would recommend this because the it really is slow but i definitely enjoyed this!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Violence, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Alcoholism, War, Biphobia, and Child death

Maternal mortality/Death during childbirth

inkysplodge's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Suicide attempt, War, Death of parent, Abandonment, Classism, and Cursing

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." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Grief, Sexual harassment, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexism, Addiction, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Blood, and Cancer

mseals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Sexual assault, War, Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence