A review by sharanyaaguha
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?"

You know the book is going to be good when the first page itself contains these beautiful lines.

It follows the story of Adeline Larue, a girl born in Villon, France in. Addie is a free soul, she wants to go to the markets with her father, she wants to explore and see what's beyond Villor. She grows up learning things about gods from Estelle and how she should never pray to those who answer after the dark. However, one day she is faced with no choice and starts praying. She doesn't know what she has done until she opens her eyes, and everything is pitch black.

Fast forward to 300 years later, in 2014. Addie has lived a hundred lives and met a hundred people, and no one remembers her. "Out of sight, out of mind" she calls it. She only wants somebody to remember her, and her life changes when she meets Henry, and he does remember her.

Throughout the book she is being cursed that she can't leave a mark, yet she has found a way, a thousand times. She has been somebody's muse and yet another's dream. She has been a painting, a sculpture, a book, a poem and a song. She has inspired art and artists for years. And even though she thinks no one remembers her, she has left a thousand marks behind.

Here's another favorite quote from the book:

"What she needs are stories. 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."