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A review by deathsweetblossom
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
4.0
All of my stars are for Henry Strauss and Henry Strauss only. If I could pluck out only the Henry Strauss chapters and make my own novella, it would be one of my favorite possessions.
Otherwise, ummm chile this is a weird ass story. I feel so disoriented, both because of Addie’s conflicting, off-putting views on love and because the writing is so beautiful at times for the story itself to be something so ODD.
(The blatant lack of POC in a story spanning centuries is … a choice. It’s.. yeah.)
SPOILERS
Aside from that, the back and forth with Adeline’s idea of love is disorienting and infuriating. In one chapter, she tells us her relationship with Henry is a reprieve, it’s just contentment. In another chapter she tells us she has fallen in love with him. And then we go back to labeling Henry as just a reprieve in her story. It’s off-putting because she constantly compares his safety and peacefulness to Luc’s “passion”, basically insinuating Luc’s oddly manipulative version of love is considered passion because they have great sex is better than the safety and peacefulness she feels with Henry who actually respects and loves her. Which is a fucking weird message to send.
I can only theorize that we’re meant to feel Adeline’s strange conflict with the way her story plays out, but then I have to ask if this ending feels satisfying in any way (to me, it doesn’t). If Addie has existed for centuries as both a part of but not entirely separate from humanity, she is still existing in that liminal space now. If she is not human, but still cares that people remember her (which is a very human thing), and is now back to playing the game with Luc (whom she obviously does NOT love as per how she talks about his downfall), then she’s essentially right back where she started. Which is nowhere, which is in the “connective tissue”. She is still in the nowhere of existence, but at least people remember her now, I guess. It feels like she hasn’t accomplished anything or learned anything. All she managed to do was find a loophole so she could finally leave her mark on the world. Whoop-dee-freaking-doo. It comes at the expense of Henry Strauss loving her and never being able to be loved by her in return .. like lmao. Are you for real???
END SPOILERS
The only character who has experienced any type of growth by the end is my love Henry Strauss, and therefore, he is the only reason worth reading this Willy-Wonka-weirdness for.
Otherwise, ummm chile this is a weird ass story. I feel so disoriented, both because of Addie’s conflicting, off-putting views on love and because the writing is so beautiful at times for the story itself to be something so ODD.
(The blatant lack of POC in a story spanning centuries is … a choice. It’s.. yeah.)
SPOILERS
Aside from that, the back and forth with Adeline’s idea of love is disorienting and infuriating. In one chapter, she tells us her relationship with Henry is a reprieve, it’s just contentment. In another chapter she tells us she has fallen in love with him. And then we go back to labeling Henry as just a reprieve in her story. It’s off-putting because she constantly compares his safety and peacefulness to Luc’s “passion”, basically insinuating Luc’s oddly manipulative version of love is considered passion because they have great sex is better than the safety and peacefulness she feels with Henry who actually respects and loves her. Which is a fucking weird message to send.
I can only theorize that we’re meant to feel Adeline’s strange conflict with the way her story plays out, but then I have to ask if this ending feels satisfying in any way (to me, it doesn’t). If Addie has existed for centuries as both a part of but not entirely separate from humanity, she is still existing in that liminal space now. If she is not human, but still cares that people remember her (which is a very human thing), and is now back to playing the game with Luc (whom she obviously does NOT love as per how she talks about his downfall), then she’s essentially right back where she started. Which is nowhere, which is in the “connective tissue”. She is still in the nowhere of existence, but at least people remember her now, I guess. It feels like she hasn’t accomplished anything or learned anything. All she managed to do was find a loophole so she could finally leave her mark on the world. Whoop-dee-freaking-doo. It comes at the expense of Henry Strauss loving her and never being able to be loved by her in return .. like lmao. Are you for real???
END SPOILERS
The only character who has experienced any type of growth by the end is my love Henry Strauss, and therefore, he is the only reason worth reading this Willy-Wonka-weirdness for.