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

I think all the hype around this book set my expectations too high. The story was excellent, but I felt it really didn't get going until page 230 (probably wouldn't have gotten that far if I hadn't been reading it for book club).

I would recommend reading it over listening to it. Between the jumps back and forth in time and how slow the first part of the book is, I don't think it would be an enjoyable listen.

Content Warnings

juli_powers's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-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

What an adventure of a book. Addie's 300 year life is the primary story line until suddenly it's not. The year 2014 is the most visited story line. At first I was confused as to why the author allowed Henry's life to take over as a primary plot line but as she interweaves Henry and Addies stories it becomes clear that he is the way she will finally make a permanent mark and be remembered. A beautiful story about the importance of a name, being remembered and finding love and adventure.

Content Warnings

stwriter92's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book broke my heart in such an amazing way. I have adored everything I have ready by V.E. Schwab and this was no exception. She has such a fantastic way with words and has a knack for always finding the exact right one. I don't know how she does it, but there it is!

The book itself centers on the eponymous Addie (Adeline) LaRue. Her story begins in eighteenth century France, where she lives in the small village of Villon with her parents. She grows up wild, unruly, and untamable. While this is seen as tolerable when she is a child, it quickly becomes less so when she grows into a young woman. To escape what she sees as a horrible fate of being forced into marriage and then buried in the same ten meter plot as the rest of her village, she turns to the heathen gods, begging for an escape. However, she forgets that one must never pray to the gods that listen at night. One swoops down and gleefully grants her freedom in return for her soul. However, there is a caveat. Addie LaRue will be forgotten by everyone, thus severing any and all bonds that might tie her down to one particular place. She will leave no mark and will not even be able to say her own name. That privilege will remain with the god that granted her her cursed freedom. However, three hundred years later, she stumbles upon a young man, Henry, who can remember her. Thus, the game between her and the devil grows new and terrible dimensions as she fights to keep her love and regain true freedom.

The story itself is so unique. I don't think I've ever really heard of a story like this one before. Of course there have been stories told about deals made with devils and trickster gods and monkey's paws for centuries. This was one iteration of that old story that I have not heard before, which was incredibly refreshing. I felt completely immersed throughout the entire story and found myself physically reacting to the events of the book. This story gave me hope for humanity, which is incredibly hard to come by. In all her years of loneliness, Addie never once gave up hope. She came to love humans, while Luc only saw them as playthings to be tossed at a whim. She saw that human beings are messy but redeemable. In her three hundred years, she did not become jaded. She learned, yes. She went through hardships and saw wars begin and end, empires rise and fall, kings come to power and die in rags. Instead of seeing humanity as a transient thing, to be watched from a distance in a bored manner, she sees something worth saving and loving. When Luc asks her what she sees in Henry and humanity in general and she responds, "You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much. And maybe--maybe I am no longer one of them" (Part 6 Chapter 13, p. 407). In all her years, she has not grown bitter and hateful.

Even the ending,

while heartbreaking, still kept a kernel of hope alive. While she might never be able to see Henry again, she still has a plan to get out from under Luc's thumb. I think that was what I loved so much about her. There is not a single moment in which she loses all hope and gives into Luc and his demands. The book ends on an open note and we are left to wonder whether or not she will finally get out from under Luc's control and power. This ends much in the same way that Henry's novel under the same name ends. It's not a true ending because we will never truly know. I think that's how I ended the book. A goodbye, but a goodbye as described in the book. "Not a period, but an ellipsis, a statement trailing off, until someone is there to pick it up. It is a door left open. It is drifting off to sleep" (Part 6 Chapter 16, p. 419).

Some Quotes I Loved:

"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?" (Part 1 Chapter 1, p. 15)
"March is such a fickle month. It is the seam between winter and spring--though seam suggests an even hem, and March is more like a rough line of stitches sewn by an unsteady hand, swinging wildly between January gusts and June greens. You don't know what you'll find, until you step outside" (Part 1 Chapter 2, p. 20).
"Stories are a way to preserve one's self. to be remembered. And to forget. Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books. Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives--or to find strength in a very long one" (Part 1 Chapter 7, p. 35).
"Day breaks like an egg yolk, spilling yellow light across the field" (Part 1 Chapter 8, p. 40).
"The day passes like a sentence. The sun falls like a scythe" (Part 1 Chapter 8, p. 41).
"Every day is amber, and she is the fly trapped inside. No way to think in days or weeks when she lives in moments. Time begins to lose its meaning--and yet, she has not lost track of time" (Part 2 Chapter 4, p. 114)
"But this is how you walk tot he end of the world. This is how you live forever. Here is one day, and here is the next, and you take what you can, savor every stolen second, cling to every moment until it's gone" (Part 3 Chapter 8, p. 202)
"Belief is a bit like gravity. Enough people believe a thing, and it becomes as solid and real as the ground beneath your feet. But when you're the only one holding on to an idea, a memory, a girl, it's hard to keep it from floating away" (Part 7 Chapter 2, p. 437)