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A review by amybibliophile
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
5.0
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue... how to start?
Adeline LaRue was born in the 17th century and grew up in a small French village named Villon. On the night of her arranged wedding to a widower, Addie refuses to see it through and will do anything to protect her freedom from being ripped away. Estelle has always told her not to pray to the gods after dark, but the darkness falls fast and Addie's prayer has already been heard.
Once freedom was seen as the most important thing the world to Addie, only unknowingly to her the god of darkness has cursed her to live out her infinite days free but never to be remembered by anybody she meets, in return for her soul.
300 years later in a tucked away New York bookshop, she heard the words she has been dreaming of since it all began, I remember you...
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a perfect slow burner that I lost myself in for hours at a time. V.E. Schwab is a master of storytelling and this book will be her legacy for sure. I could both see and feel the rawest of emotions she has spilled over the pages, creating what I can only describe as a true art form, I found myself slowing my reading pace down to drink in every inked word on the page.
This book really hit me in the feels because it made me think of life and the sheer haunting beauty of it. It opened up fears of the unknown, confront thoughts and feelings that get lost in the daily mundane. A feeling that on some level, we all want to live the best lives we possibly can, laugh and love as much as we possibly can, and have a habit of thinking there will always be a tomorrow, even when we know there won't because it makes life that much easier to float through. Well when you're Addie and you have a sea of tomorrows and hellos, but only hours of familiarity, the only thing that matters is trying to make her own mark on the world and she thinks she can only accomplish this by being remembered. “What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?”
“...it is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.
To remember when no one else does.”
My review makes the book seem very doom and gloom but I have to say it was far from it. There were a few laugh out load moments for me between Henry and Addie, their relationship was so many things: lighthearted, loving, respectful and all the good stuff it should be. More than anything it held meaning, showed you the beautiful and the ugly exactly like real life. Henry has had a troubled past, a lost soul in another way, Addie is the light to his darkness and he the light to hers.
“His heart has a draft. It lets in light. It lets in storms. It lets in everything.”
Luc is the name Addie has given to the god of darkness, a more important character than I realised starting out in this story, he is the villain we love to hate and then grow to love in a peculiar way.
His relationship with Addie is messy but has many, many layers to it on which it only builds. Starting as a game to him, Addie is something to be consumed and destroyed, he is an immortal-being now with an immortal challenge and his goal is to possess her soul. I was never sure what Luc truly was, prince of darkness? Yes. Devil? Maybe. Certainly suave and complicated to say the least. An abuser shown in their true form, charming and witty, but will drop you on your ass the second it suits them, plays with emotions as if they are toys. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't my favourite character but reason for this being the depth in which V.E. Schwab had me feeling towards him, he is mythological and the unknown, but never lets you forget his core is still that of a fickle god.
“Do not mistake this kindness. I simply want to be the one who breaks you.”
This was a tale of new beginnings and finding yourself when you've lost your way, you may lose yourself within the pages, but you will come through the other side thinking its anything but invisible.
Adeline LaRue was born in the 17th century and grew up in a small French village named Villon. On the night of her arranged wedding to a widower, Addie refuses to see it through and will do anything to protect her freedom from being ripped away. Estelle has always told her not to pray to the gods after dark, but the darkness falls fast and Addie's prayer has already been heard.
Once freedom was seen as the most important thing the world to Addie, only unknowingly to her the god of darkness has cursed her to live out her infinite days free but never to be remembered by anybody she meets, in return for her soul.
300 years later in a tucked away New York bookshop, she heard the words she has been dreaming of since it all began, I remember you...
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a perfect slow burner that I lost myself in for hours at a time. V.E. Schwab is a master of storytelling and this book will be her legacy for sure. I could both see and feel the rawest of emotions she has spilled over the pages, creating what I can only describe as a true art form, I found myself slowing my reading pace down to drink in every inked word on the page.
This book really hit me in the feels because it made me think of life and the sheer haunting beauty of it. It opened up fears of the unknown, confront thoughts and feelings that get lost in the daily mundane. A feeling that on some level, we all want to live the best lives we possibly can, laugh and love as much as we possibly can, and have a habit of thinking there will always be a tomorrow, even when we know there won't because it makes life that much easier to float through. Well when you're Addie and you have a sea of tomorrows and hellos, but only hours of familiarity, the only thing that matters is trying to make her own mark on the world and she thinks she can only accomplish this by being remembered. “What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?”
“...it is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.
To remember when no one else does.”
My review makes the book seem very doom and gloom but I have to say it was far from it. There were a few laugh out load moments for me between Henry and Addie, their relationship was so many things: lighthearted, loving, respectful and all the good stuff it should be. More than anything it held meaning, showed you the beautiful and the ugly exactly like real life. Henry has had a troubled past, a lost soul in another way, Addie is the light to his darkness and he the light to hers.
“His heart has a draft. It lets in light. It lets in storms. It lets in everything.”
Luc is the name Addie has given to the god of darkness, a more important character than I realised starting out in this story, he is the villain we love to hate and then grow to love in a peculiar way.
His relationship with Addie is messy but has many, many layers to it on which it only builds. Starting as a game to him, Addie is something to be consumed and destroyed, he is an immortal-being now with an immortal challenge and his goal is to possess her soul. I was never sure what Luc truly was, prince of darkness? Yes. Devil? Maybe. Certainly suave and complicated to say the least. An abuser shown in their true form, charming and witty, but will drop you on your ass the second it suits them, plays with emotions as if they are toys. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't my favourite character but reason for this being the depth in which V.E. Schwab had me feeling towards him, he is mythological and the unknown, but never lets you forget his core is still that of a fickle god.
“Do not mistake this kindness. I simply want to be the one who breaks you.”
This was a tale of new beginnings and finding yourself when you've lost your way, you may lose yourself within the pages, but you will come through the other side thinking its anything but invisible.