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A review by ellaellaellaetc
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
3.75
from what I've seen people saying, this is quite a controversial book! this is about addie who is a girl living in a small french town in the early 18th century. on her wedding day (to a guy she doesn't want to marry) she makes a deal with the devil to live freely forever. however, after making the deal, she finds out that the catch is that no one will remember her, she cannot say her own name and she can no longer write. she will live forever but as soon as someone leaves the room she's in, they'll forget that they've ever met; she cannot leave a mark.
first off, I will say the obvious, this is beautifully written. ve schwab is a very talented writer! this was gorgeously written and you can really tell that the author had a very clear idea of what she wanted to say and she NEEDED to write this book. however, I do not particularly care. other reviewers have touched on this but I think it's a bit ridiculous that she lived for 300+ years and was obsessed with travelling the world but only stayed in western europe and then the united states?? i understand that it's very difficult for her to travel (especially in the modern age) but girl you're telling me that you wanted to become immortal to see the world and you don't even mention asia one time.
I also thought it was ridiculous that she would constantly run into all of these random artists and historical figures just by chance and that she inspired all of this random art. i think for a book that constantly talks about how hard it is to be a woman in the 18th century, she never even brought up racism, slavery or even homophobia when the character is literally queer? like you cannot have a queer character that lives through all of these time periods and not touch on this stuff at all?? like what do you mean???
despite this, I still did enjoy this story, I think henry was such an interesting character and I really understood him. (spoilers) but his curse was an interesting twist that I didn't see coming (although I probably should have...) and the way that the author played with it was cool!
the ending was a bit on the nose but what can you do, I still liked it and I've seen people online being down bad for the demon but tbh he was kind of boring and not hot. 3.75 stars
first off, I will say the obvious, this is beautifully written. ve schwab is a very talented writer! this was gorgeously written and you can really tell that the author had a very clear idea of what she wanted to say and she NEEDED to write this book. however, I do not particularly care. other reviewers have touched on this but I think it's a bit ridiculous that she lived for 300+ years and was obsessed with travelling the world but only stayed in western europe and then the united states?? i understand that it's very difficult for her to travel (especially in the modern age) but girl you're telling me that you wanted to become immortal to see the world and you don't even mention asia one time.
I also thought it was ridiculous that she would constantly run into all of these random artists and historical figures just by chance and that she inspired all of this random art. i think for a book that constantly talks about how hard it is to be a woman in the 18th century, she never even brought up racism, slavery or even homophobia when the character is literally queer? like you cannot have a queer character that lives through all of these time periods and not touch on this stuff at all?? like what do you mean???
despite this, I still did enjoy this story, I think henry was such an interesting character and I really understood him. (spoilers) but his curse was an interesting twist that I didn't see coming (although I probably should have...) and the way that the author played with it was cool!
the ending was a bit on the nose but what can you do, I still liked it and I've seen people online being down bad for the demon but tbh he was kind of boring and not hot. 3.75 stars