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louiza_read2live's review
2.0
Unpopular opinion: A missed opportunity for V.E. Schwab to have written a contemporary masterpiece.
This book started as a very good 4-5 stars reading, but after the 150th page went downhill very fast, earning for itself a generous 2 stars (for the brilliant idea of the topic, a strong beginning, a good ending), and the "honors" of been the most disappointing book that I have read so far this year. The idea of the story is brilliant and most of the writing very good, besides becoming repetitive the further we read; however, the execution kept going down, down... I have never read the other works of V.E. Schwab because I know her works are probably not my cup of tea, but this was supposed to be different. It sounded like a modern tale, completely different, but reminiscent of Dr. Faust's deal with the devil by the excellent works of Goethe and Christopher Marlowe. I could write at least a dozen things and some more that are wrong with the execution of this book, but I won't write them in detail here as some could also be spoilers. This could have become a modern classic and one of my favorite books, but sadly I feel it failed.
The idea of the story is superb, and it is sad that the author never reached the incredible depths she could have gone with this. Instead, the main character is flat, vapid, and even annoying at times as we follow her from one night-stand sexual relationship to another. Now, this would not have bothered me at all in this particular book because there is a very important point central to the plot for why the character has these types of relationships. However, the author misses opportunity after opportunity to delve into the character's psyche as she goes through life and to develop a well rounded character that the reader can connect with her. The story itself remains on a superficial level and left me wanting for depths the author never explores. I can see why so many people love it, but it wasn't for me. I am glad I read it though.
To me it looks more like a draft of a brilliant but undeveloped idea--an empty vessel. I wish she could rewrite it either willing to explore Adeline's physical and emotional world in depth or leaving out the middle part of the book and do a better job with the rest. The way the book is written right now doesn't seem to need to be more than about 200, or even fewer pages. I wish I could love this book because I love the premise and parts of the writing style, especially at the beginning.
This book started as a very good 4-5 stars reading, but after the 150th page went downhill very fast, earning for itself a generous 2 stars (for the brilliant idea of the topic, a strong beginning, a good ending), and the "honors" of been the most disappointing book that I have read so far this year. The idea of the story is brilliant and most of the writing very good, besides becoming repetitive the further we read; however, the execution kept going down, down... I have never read the other works of V.E. Schwab because I know her works are probably not my cup of tea, but this was supposed to be different. It sounded like a modern tale, completely different, but reminiscent of Dr. Faust's deal with the devil by the excellent works of Goethe and Christopher Marlowe. I could write at least a dozen things and some more that are wrong with the execution of this book, but I won't write them in detail here as some could also be spoilers. This could have become a modern classic and one of my favorite books, but sadly I feel it failed.
The idea of the story is superb, and it is sad that the author never reached the incredible depths she could have gone with this. Instead, the main character is flat, vapid, and even annoying at times as we follow her from one night-stand sexual relationship to another. Now, this would not have bothered me at all in this particular book because there is a very important point central to the plot for why the character has these types of relationships. However, the author misses opportunity after opportunity to delve into the character's psyche as she goes through life and to develop a well rounded character that the reader can connect with her. The story itself remains on a superficial level and left me wanting for depths the author never explores. I can see why so many people love it, but it wasn't for me. I am glad I read it though.
To me it looks more like a draft of a brilliant but undeveloped idea--an empty vessel. I wish she could rewrite it either willing to explore Adeline's physical and emotional world in depth or leaving out the middle part of the book and do a better job with the rest. The way the book is written right now doesn't seem to need to be more than about 200, or even fewer pages. I wish I could love this book because I love the premise and parts of the writing style, especially at the beginning.
secretforest's review
3.5
You should know that I am writing this review as someone who doesn't care for stand alone books, doesn't care for Adult Fiction in general, much less angsty adult fiction, and who despises love triangles. The fact that this book claims all of those descriptors and still earns such a high rating from me, is a victory in and of itself.
The writing was flawless, impeccable. I would like to kiss it very deeply on the mouth and say it is done. But the story (in particular, the ending) is where it fell flat for me.
To start, I predicted pretty much every twist there was to turn in this story. In my opinion, predicting twists is not a bad thing (it can make a story even more enjoyable sometimes), except when you're expecting a twist and instead, receive a grinding halt at the end.
I think I would've genuinely given this a 5 star rating if there had been more. A second book, more exploration of the relationship between Addie and Luc, more of Addie's story.
Instead, the first half of the book was Le Miserable (party of one) and the second half was this weird love-triangle-but-not situation happening between Henry, Addie, and Luc, where we get beautifully detailed descriptions of Moments In Time from Henry and Addie's relationship while being fully aware he is Not The One, and where Luc sort of lurks in the background.
I wanted so badly to ship AddieLuc. But inconsistent visitations and claiming he's "always watching" (even when Addie explicitly tells him she doesn't believe in things she cannot see) is lukewarm payoff at best, yet we're supposed to believe he is The One?
Except he's not? Or at least, that ending sure left things wide the fuck open. Because apparently Addie still hates him. Or she doesn't. Or they're enemies, secretly in love/hate forever and ever. Like I get itβshe'll never lose her defiance and that's what keeps the spark of their love alive. Or whatever. But for a book so steeped in emotion, so heavily leaning on romantic vignettes, we don't even get to see much of Addie and Luc's love at all, and in the end it felt very lacking.
I was expecting much more of a "lesson learned", something like Addie realises that the curse was a gift, that she's always been free. Luc realises that love, Addie's love, is a kind of power he is willing to submit to, etc. And such is my frustration with many adult fiction novels, where lessons and satisfying character growth go out the window in lieu of subversive endings and "reflections of real life".
Basically, the book can be surmised in one sentence: Addie is the same old Addie, and Luc is the same old Luc, and their relationship is fairly unchanged by the small blip of Henry, in the end.
If VES magically announces a sequel focusing on Addie and Luc's relationship, I will change my rating immediately. Considering that is unlikely to happen, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is a neutral character arc wrapped in pretty words, and I am decidedly neutral about that.
The writing was flawless, impeccable. I would like to kiss it very deeply on the mouth and say it is done. But the story (in particular, the ending) is where it fell flat for me.
To start, I predicted pretty much every twist there was to turn in this story. In my opinion, predicting twists is not a bad thing (it can make a story even more enjoyable sometimes), except when you're expecting a twist and instead, receive a grinding halt at the end.
I think I would've genuinely given this a 5 star rating if there had been more. A second book, more exploration of the relationship between Addie and Luc, more of Addie's story.
Instead, the first half of the book was Le Miserable (party of one) and the second half was this weird love-triangle-but-not situation happening between Henry, Addie, and Luc, where we get beautifully detailed descriptions of Moments In Time from Henry and Addie's relationship while being fully aware he is Not The One, and where Luc sort of lurks in the background.
I wanted so badly to ship AddieLuc. But inconsistent visitations and claiming he's "always watching" (even when Addie explicitly tells him she doesn't believe in things she cannot see) is lukewarm payoff at best, yet we're supposed to believe he is The One?
Except he's not? Or at least, that ending sure left things wide the fuck open. Because apparently Addie still hates him. Or she doesn't. Or they're enemies, secretly in love/hate forever and ever. Like I get itβshe'll never lose her defiance and that's what keeps the spark of their love alive. Or whatever. But for a book so steeped in emotion, so heavily leaning on romantic vignettes, we don't even get to see much of Addie and Luc's love at all, and in the end it felt very lacking.
I was expecting much more of a "lesson learned", something like Addie realises that the curse was a gift, that she's always been free. Luc realises that love, Addie's love, is a kind of power he is willing to submit to, etc. And such is my frustration with many adult fiction novels, where lessons and satisfying character growth go out the window in lieu of subversive endings and "reflections of real life".
Basically, the book can be surmised in one sentence: Addie is the same old Addie, and Luc is the same old Luc, and their relationship is fairly unchanged by the small blip of Henry, in the end.
If VES magically announces a sequel focusing on Addie and Luc's relationship, I will change my rating immediately. Considering that is unlikely to happen, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is a neutral character arc wrapped in pretty words, and I am decidedly neutral about that.
starlit_reads's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This book is amazing, go read it!
Thank you Alison for the recommendation this book is one of the best I've read
Thank you Alison for the recommendation this book is one of the best I've read
samtheriveter's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
4.0
amelia53's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lovefilled's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.75
I didn't love this.... just no. Julia Whelan's narration kept me going fr ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»
dnrsht's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 actually
Good book, but it has some details that I didn`t enjoy. But let`s star with good.
1 The story is interesting. I usually spend a lot of time reading a book, but this time it was just few evenings. I can`t say that it was breathtaking but it definitely was a catching story.
2 I enjoyed the characters. In my opinion they acted naturaly for people in that kind of situation and it didn`t seem to be stupid.
3 The ending. Without spoilers I`d say that it was the ending that was just right for the story. I don`t think that there was another option to end this book.
And now to those things that wasn`t quite good:
1 Does anybody feel that Addie is more than 300 years? `Cause I don`t. She lived throuh 3 centueries and is living in 4th now but still acts like she`s 23.
2 Why was she mad with Luc? Yes, he was the "demon" that made her life like that and I can understand her on one hand, but on the other I don`t. Wasn`t she the one that asked the Gods to help her? Wasn`t she the one that sold a soul for eternal life? Maybe at this point I`m wrong, but I was really confused by this all the time
Good book, but it has some details that I didn`t enjoy. But let`s star with good.
1 The story is interesting. I usually spend a lot of time reading a book, but this time it was just few evenings. I can`t say that it was breathtaking but it definitely was a catching story.
2 I enjoyed the characters. In my opinion they acted naturaly for people in that kind of situation and it didn`t seem to be stupid.
3 The ending. Without spoilers I`d say that it was the ending that was just right for the story. I don`t think that there was another option to end this book.
And now to those things that wasn`t quite good:
1 Does anybody feel that Addie is more than 300 years? `Cause I don`t. She lived throuh 3 centueries and is living in 4th now but still acts like she`s 23.
2 Why was she mad with Luc? Yes, he was the "demon" that made her life like that and I can understand her on one hand, but on the other I don`t. Wasn`t she the one that asked the Gods to help her? Wasn`t she the one that sold a soul for eternal life? Maybe at this point I`m wrong, but I was really confused by this all the time
frasquitita's review against another edition
3.75
Good read, beautiful writing, sometimes slow. But I was very touched by Henry and I liked Addie's selflessness in the end.