Reviews with content warning for Torture - La Vida Invisible de Addie Larue

This book didn’t entirely surprise me, yet that precisely was its brilliance — the way the pieces fell into place and there was no question that this was exactly how the story needed to be told.

The reason I decided against a full 5.0 rating is that I found it odd that in her 300 years and with such a curiosity of languages, Addie's nine languages were all romantic or germanic languages. She hadn't learnt any Asian or African languages, even though she lived in New York, which has had a sizeable immigrant community for a long, long time.

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lizaleoma's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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madmilliner's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to like this story, especially because the writing is so beautiful. The words, and scenes are a cross between poetry and art.

It is the ultimate manic pixie dream girl vs depressive demon nightmare boy, I felt it was trying too hard and was somehow ¿oversaturated?

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maisierosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I impulsively borrowed the audiobook of Addie LaRue from my library (while desperately hunting through their available fiction audiobooks on overdrive late at night, because most audiobooks were temporarily unavailable on Scribd UK)

I haven't read any of V.E. Schwab's other books, but I have listened to other books narrated by Julia Whelan (unsurprising, if you've seen the sheer number she's narrated!) and she did as good a job as always.

I enjoyed the concept behind The Invosible Life of Addie LaRue, and V.E. Schwab's writing style. There were some details in the plot which I particularly appreciated too - though I was able to predict most of the reveals, there was enough mystery to keep me interested.

One of the things I was really excited about was this book having two bi MC's - their sexuality isn't explored in a lot of detail, but it is very much canonical. Although it isn't necessarily a problem, I think Addie's sapphic identity/relationships could have definitely been explored in more detail given the length of her timeline, or at least touched upon more than once or twice since this novel is primarily driven by her as a character. As it is, we are only told (briefly) about one of her female lovers in the contemporary part of the timeline, and this lover had a much smaller impact on her character than any of her on-page male love interests. It is implied that she had slept with other women - surely at least one of them had a significant impact on her life?

It is also worth noting that this book is very white. In a 300 year narrative, only one of the book's original characters wasn't white, and pretty much the only famous historical figures she comes across were white men (some of whom were undeniably racist in reality, though this wasn't touched on in the book). Addie plays a small part in some historical events, e.g. briefly helping to work against the Nazis in WW2, but seemingly only when those events were affecting Addie herself and not when marginalised groups were being systematically oppressed alongside her.

My other issue was understanding the relationship between Addie LaRou and Luc. I understand her need to hear her name and not be forgotten, but

Luc literally tortures her at one point in the book and

I don't know how she could ever look past that!

Overall, I didn't hate this book and enjoyed several aspects of it, but feel that more could have been done in terms of diversity and character development.

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caidyn's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

CW: death, grief, mention of torture, and sex

If ya'll know me, you'll know that I'm not Schwab's biggest fan. In the abstract, I love her as a person and her ideas are amazing. I just don't typically love how the stories are written. But this book completely won me over. It's unlike her previous books so, for me, it didn't have the same flaws that usually get to me. The pacing was brilliant, the characters pulled at my heart, and I just loved the story.

Since this book is so hyped, I don't know what else to say. Just that I was on the fence about it but decided to give her one last try. And now I know that I want to own the book and have it on my shelf since I can see myself reaching for it when I need a good book that will pull at my heart.

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