How many chapters in the invisible life of addie larue

"Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books."

Everything about Addie LaRue completely blew me away. This is the first book by V.E. Schwab that I’ve given five stars to, and I’m not sure a day has passed since reading that I haven’t thought about it. I will say that I think this book (and more importantly the ending) could be a bit polarizing, but this story, this main character, and the way everything was structured just really worked perfectly for me and my reading tastes.

How do I even begin to describe this book to you? There are truly so many layers woven together to make this story. Many of you know, this is something that V.E. Schwab has been working on for a decade and you can tell they really put their whole heart and soul into these complex characters:

➽ Addie - A girl with seven freckles, and she is told that there is one for every love she would ever have. She was born in a small town, and had small town expectations placed on her, but Addie had big dreams and desired to see as much of the world as she possibly could. And when she turns twenty-three, and everyone thinks her time is slowly running out, she quickly finds out that time is something she will never have to fear again.

"Spells are for the witches, and witches are too often burned."

"I remember you."

"I am stronger than your god and older than your devil. I am the darkness between stars, and the roots beneath the earth. I am promise, and potential, and when it comes to playing games, I divine the rules, I set the pieces, and I choose when to play. And tonight, I say no."

Now that I have used the word “yearning” one-hundred times, let’s talk about some of the rep in Addie LaRue, because there are lots of queer characters and characters who read queer! Addie is pan or bi, and we get to see her in relationships with different genders throughout this book, but the main relationship (and yearning) is m/f. I believe Henry is pan, but it is never said on page, but "he’s attracted to a person first and their gender second" had me and my pan heart ascending to new heights, I promise you that. Addie and Henry are both white, but there are POC side characters and other identities on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum (gay, lesbian, maybe some polyamorous hints)! And this book, has some very serious depression representation!

"It’s just a storm, he tells himself, but he is tired of looking for shelter. It is just a storm, but there is always another waiting in its wake."

(Also, friendly reminder that life is truly a vast range of up and down journeys! And you, and your journey, are valid, and I see you no matter how hard that journey feels at times. There will be lots of heavy days, but lots of light days too, I promise. And you are so worthy of love, and kindness, and respect, no matter where you are at on your journey. And feeling too much is not a curse, ever. And I’m proud of you, and you are never alone with what you are feeling, and sometimes we all need help with some storms: //suicidepreventionlifeline.org)

"His heart has a draft. It lets in light. It lets in storms. It lets in everything."

But we get to see Luc, and Henry, and Addie, and watch their intertangled stories unwind. I truly feel like I can’t say much more about the actual story, and I believe it’s probably best to not know much more than what I’ve said above, but seeing these characters, during all their different phases in life, both alone and together, is truly something like a work of art.

"Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one."

"Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because vision weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades. " He leans close, twists a lock of her hair around one finger. "Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end, " he says, "everyone wants to be remembered."

"Humans are capable of such wondrous things. Of cruelty, and war, but also art and invention."

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Trigger and Content Warnings: attempted assault, abuse depiction, loss of a loved one, substance abuse, depression depiction, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, and mention of cancer in the past.

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Buddy read with Maëlys! ❤

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

They say that, if you follow closely, she’d take you through continents and centuries—chasing shadows, stalking the vanishing footsteps of an idea, a touch, a constellation of seven freckles. And if you stack up your courage in a fist and ask her what it is she seeks, she would tell you it is a god and a girl, a forgotten thing. And then she would turn to the night and cry out in challenge and raging prayer.

This, my friend, is where I suggest you let your fist fly open, scattering the gathered grains, and flee. For if you don’t, you would glimpse a man with raven hair and a fleeting emerald labyrinth for eyes set in the face of a wolf step from the shadows, a dark god bearing his own temples of need and desperation. For if you stay, the devil would take your soul.

They say, and they say it honest and true.
I would know—I am the wraith, after all.

“No matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”

I persistently urge you to listen to the unbelievably flawless and fitting songs on my playlist of this book ➾ Spotify URL

“Nothing is all good or all bad,” she says. “Life is so much messier than that.”
And there in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it.
Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow?
Were the moments of beauty worth the years of pain?
And she turns her head, and looks at him, and says, “Always.”

★ Rigel: Storytelling

Such talent. Much perfection.

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.

★ Bellatrix: Addie LaRue, the Muse

It’s the relief of understanding towards an unrestrained, wild thing in search of her freedom, her life, her own path—be it companionship or loneliness; it’s the warmth of kinship towards a defiant dreamer dreaming of a stranger with dark hair, crying out against the night to belong to no one but herself, be bound to none but herself; and it’s the resignation to a road undoubtedly ahead of a girl fleeing the smallness of a static life, a tomb, strings cut, head wandering.

It’s joy and it’s pain and it’s unforgettable.
Addie LaRue is unforgettable.

★ Betelgeuse: Love & Luc, the Devil

# confession time

I’ve always believed myself a loveless creature. I’ve believed it and declared it, to friend, family, stranger. Strangers raise an eyebrow, family nods in understanding of a shared problem, but friends...friends always disagree, always start a speech about how kind and caring and helpful and generous I am, well-intendedly attempting to explain myself to me as if I don’t live in my head.

What those friends do not understand is the meaning of love. Frankly, I was not sure of it either other than knowing I am not capable of it. That is, until Schwab wrote:

“You are not capable of love because you cannot understand what it is to care for someone else more than yourself.”

That’s love. So what about Luc?

“Pain can be beautiful,” he says, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “It can transform. It can create.”

“Do not mistake this—any of it—for kindness, Adeline.” His eyes go bright with mischief. “I simply want to be the one who breaks you.”

But remember that, no matter how these two cutthroats fit, no matter how their passionate, warlike back-and-forths are something they both crave, she only really had him in the vast emptiness of her world, and he made it so. Her thoughts are filled with him, because he made it so.

Remember that, however alluring their affair, it is not love.

★ Alnilam: Henry, the Storykeeper

That’s Henry for me.

Because sensitive, caring, soft, quiet, strong characters haunted by failure more often than not fail to hold my flickering attention, yet I now trust Victoria Schwab to do the unlikely. Because he is more than those adjectives strung up together; he is lost and hungry in a world that holds an insurmountable number of tastes, insatiably craving too many of them to choose; he is a boy who sees stories in theology, who fears being himself as much as he hates not being seen as himself; and he is more than simply sensitive, carrying a cracked heart that lets in everything and anything, and Schwab’s exploration of his mental health and anxiety was soulful and unforgettable.

★ Alnitak: Feminism

And mostly, I wonder if the women who called after questioning girls as one would a sheep gone astray, are in reality the ones who’d seen the most injustice, dreamt the hardest, and learned such a hard lesson to end up helping in the keeping of the leash.

Freedom is a pair of trousers and a buttoned coat. A man’s tunic and a tricorne hat. If only she had known. The darkness claimed he’d given her freedom, but really, there is no such thing for a woman, not in a world where they are bound up inside their clothes, and sealed inside their homes, a world where only men are given leave to roam.

Addie LaRue’s is one such tale.

★ Mintaka: History & Art

“Art is about ideas. And ideas are wilder than memories. They’re like weeds, always finding their way up.”

It’s about life and art and humans and how, even after one hundred years or three hundred years, there is yet more to find. Unknowns to see. Novelties to discover. And it is all the more memorable because of it.

★ Saiph: Loneliness & Remembrance

Tell me, have you ever felt that abyss of sadness reserved for the lost? The forgotten? The lonely?

“Why would anyone trade a lifetime of talent for a few years of glory?”
“Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end,” he says, “everyone wants to be remembered.”

“The vexing thing about time,” he says, “is that it’s never enough. Perhaps a decade too short, perhaps a moment. But a life always ends too soon.”

Info on the film adaptation with Schwab as screenwriter.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or The Invisible Life of Addie the Street conveys a tale about a girl who makes a faustian bargain with the devil and is thus forgotten by everyone she meets. Addie becomes convinced she must make her mark upon the world in unique and influential ways, as she believes that an idea can spark into so much more. It is a story that deals with the consequences of our actions, how one choice can make life fall apart at the seams, and how everyone, despite everything, truly wants to be remembered by someone.

I was really excited about this novel, the story that V.E. Schwab would bring. I enjoyed her Shades of Magic series and I was intrigued to read her latest novel. As a fan of books that contain deals with gods and devils, I was hoping that this book was able to deliver, especially since some of my friends had loved it too. However, whilst this book emphasized on palimpsests and the meanings of making your mark, of love, and of finding your way in the world, I was lost in how not only white but how eurocentric this novel was.

Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations.

The plot (is that the right word?) felt extremely repetitive, although potentially done on purpose to emphasize how painful it was for Addie to be forgotten, after a while, it began to lose its effect. Again, it could be to potentially showcase Addie becoming desensitized to her curse. However, it made the novel to be predictable, and at the end of it, I guessed what was going to happen, and I was left feeling meh. The emotional impact that the ending would've had was 85% lost. Henry's gift to Addie at the end was the only thing I felt for, the only thing I could connect to at the end. (view spoiler)[I thought he would write a novel about her life, and it just seems fourth-wall-breaking that the novel in the novel is also called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. (hide spoiler)] It emphasized the fact that words are powerful, and the words you choose mean everything, especially in Addie's case.

I also had problems with Addie's character, in the sense that she didn't evolve that much throughout the novel. I experienced the same feeling when reading another of Schwab's characters, Lila Bard. Addie is intelligent, calculated, and experienced whilst Lila is young, naive, and spontaneous. Addie is careful of the consequences whilst Lila doesn't care about them. However, I can't help but feel that both characters are similar in the sense that their extent of evolving surrounds becoming selfless as a result of their relationships. Lila becomes selfless through meeting Kell and changing her view of the world whilst Addie becomes more selfless through meeting Henry and experiencing what it feels to be remembered again.

Whilst it was nice to see Addie change slightly and become hopeful, I felt as though she was still the same girl three hundred years prior, who had made the deal, with no regards as to how the (traumatic) events in history have shaped her, how it was to be in a German cell, how it was to live through wars and death. Instead, the story continued it's great focus on Addie wanting to be remembered like it was the only thing that mattered in the grand history of things. This is evident through her repetition of certain phrases throughout the novel, showing that she still holds onto her past which reinforces the person that she was, is, and will always be. Addie refuses to let go of it because only she can remember her past, and thus cannot change as a person. She wants to be the same person as it's how she wants to be remembered, she wants to be able to tell her story.

One thing I did like was the anniversary between Luc and Addie. It was a nice touch and I personally enjoyed the conversations between them in the beginning, how it was two opposing forces that couldn't help but revolve around one another like two planets. Addie basically plays the longest game of doing things out of spite, just to prove a point and I loved that Luc came back with "huh you thought". Although near the end, I found that Luc became a lot more possessive and manipulative, as a god such as he usually does. But for the life of me, I cannot see why people would want Addie to be with him for that exact reason. Like Team "Boy who remembers Addie" or Team "Tall, Dark (but white) and Handsome who not only plays with Addie, but manipulates, punishes and abuses her for not doing what he wants." HMMMM??!??!?!?!!?!??!??

Henry was... Henry. Whilst he was cute and I enjoyed reading his perspective and backstory, I just felt he only existed to give Addie's story more meaning. (view spoiler)[It felt as though Henry only existed so he could tell Addie's story, and we don't get to see what happens to him after publishing the novel. His role in the novel had been fulfilled, hence he was no longer needed in the end. (hide spoiler)] I just wished Henry had a greater sense of purpose.

This novel is a standalone according to Schwab, but the way that it ends implies that there'll be more to the story. Is this Schwab keeping a wedge in the door in case she decides to come back to the world, or is it just to leave readers intrigued as to how it all truly ends? We might never know.

However, as I was reading this story, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. Something made me uncomfortable about this tale apart from the mild existential crisis I was having about whether I'd be remembered after I died. Addie's story is white, extremely white. We are shown one black woman, Bea, who Addie calls beautiful. That is it.

Throughout her three hundred years of living, we aren't shown Addie being in any other continents apart from the UK, Europe, and America. Addie knows French, Italian, Spanish, Greek but doesn't think to learn other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Afrikaans, Arabic, Hindi, you get the gist. It seems Addie LaRue wanted to be remembered, just not by people of colour. Someone managed to go around the world in 80 days whilst Addie has only visited three continents in three hundred years. The fact the only thing she can also say about a person of colour is that they're beautiful? It made me uncomfortable.

This presentation of the west in a novel about the meaning of being remembered is ironic, as it's often the west that's remembered and exemplified in history, leaving the histories of people of colour to be forgotten, erased. Where were the references to colonisation, how France, Spain, Italy Britain, and America partook in the scramble for Africa? She was literally going between Germany and England during this time. Also, there is no excuse for her not to notice, oh i don't know, RACISM OR THE TRANSPORTATION OF SLAVES?! Like, it just shows how apathetic Addie LaRue is to colonization and slavery, and the fact she didn't note it at all in her history shows how complicit she was in the system. The fact that Henry never questions her on it either? I just find that this novel displayed such a white lens, it was blinding.

I find that the eurocentric focus in this story just took the meaning of this novel away from me, as it just felt to me that whilst all these white people were trying to make marks upon the world, were trying to make themselves known and loved, Bea, the only person of colour, was just... tokenized in the narrative. In a story that focuses on the importance of leaving your mark, I feel like this book told me that the marks people of colour leave just aren't important or valued. also, voltaire??? really????

This novel shows how much privilege Addie has in not needing to care about or notice the brutality and violence that people of colour suffered under during this time. It shows how fortunate she is in the fact that she feels the need to not mention it in her grand history, and instead only focus on the times in which she thought were important to her story.

There is also the argument that Schwab intentionally left them out in order to not anger people of colour for the representation of their countries and cultures. However, sensitivity readers could've been employed and a majority of measures could've been taken to ensure the representation was somewhat accurate, and that there was at least more representation! We did get some queer rep though.

Can I also just mention how funny it is that during the Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s, Addie is "Everywhere, Nowhere", and yet fails to make one single comment about the impact of the movement? Oh yeah, it's because Addie is too self-absorbed in her curse, in the circumstances surrounding her curse, her desire to be wanted, remembered. Did Addie LaRue partake in the Civil Rights Marches? Did Addie LaRue meet Martin Luther King Jr.? Or was she too busy (view spoiler)[having sex with Luc instead? (hide spoiler)] Questions we'll never know the answers to.

I adored the exploration of the meaning of art, history and love. How in one instant, memories can slip away and your life could amount to nothing. However, Addie LaRue forces you to remember her in the text, as everyone else (apart from Luc and Henry), especially people of colour are simply forgotten.

This is a well-written novel and one that I enjoyed experiencing. However, I can't help but feel I am not the target audience for this book, and instead it is a story for white people and white people alone.

I've been rambling for the past three hours but I just hope this makes sense LMAO

The live show for The Late Night Book Club's discussion of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is on Noelle's channel, link is here: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTrg8...

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a manifesto of the dangers of pouring too much of yourself in your artistic creations. Does that mean that art must be impersonal? I'm too much of a relativist to make a definite, let alone definitive, statement about that, but let's say I would certainly like for authors of fiction to take a leaf out of T.S. Eliot's book and try and flee their personalities when they're at work. The underlying problem of Addie LaRue, as I see it, is that it has no discipline, no sound strategy beyond the author's 'well, let's see what else would meet my very personal taste now,' a looseness which becomes manifest in the book's weak characterization and character development, and most of all, in its even weaker writing style.

And I know. I know. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd have to say these things of a Schwab book, but they are, sadly, true. The writing style, usually Schwab's forte, at least according to what I remember from her previous books, was particularly appalling in this one. I swear it felt like she couldn't decide whether she wanted to write a novel or a narrative poem. I've never seen such extensive, invasive use of internal rhymes in a prose work (they're literally every other sentence), or such a generous, gratuitous, not to say pretentious distribution of line breaks, as if this were a piece of badly written, wannabe poetry. But narrative prose works are not poetry, which is why they aren't

Practical example [to give you some context: our heroine, Adeline, would rather die than marry, but her parents nonetheless decide to marry her away. The year is 1714]:

Of course, she said no.
Adeline is three and twenty, already too old to wed.
Three and twenty, a third of a life already buried.
Three and twenty--and then gifted like a prize sow to a man she does not love, or want, or even know.
She said no, and learned how much the word was worth.

Such a dramatic and, in theory, emotionally draining moment in the story, and Schwab decides to render it in the form of a nursery rhyme. I'm pretty sure you could come up with some kind of tune and sing this shit. And there are passages like this galore scattered nearly in every page. (Another jewel is, "This is a vile trick, she thinks, a horrid dream, but it will pass./This is the nature of dreams. They do not last." Oh do get outta here please.) How am I ever going to empathize with the character when all I want to do is laugh? Not to speak of the patent abuse of the rule of three. The scant five lines above already feature two instances. But my favourite examples are the city names Adeline drops completely at random, always in groups of three. She sips from a cup of coffee in New York, and she is "back in Paris again, in Instanbul, in Naples." A handful of pages later, she hears a woman playing a song on her violin and she is drawn "back to Marseilles, to Budapest, to Dublin." Now, the problem is, these cities don't mean absolutely anything, plot-wise or in terms of characterization. They will never be mentioned again. They sound cool, and they fill up the three spaces to be filled. But I think, and I would dare say it's also pretty self-evident, that as a rhetorical device, the rule of thee is actually effective only if you can put some meaning behind the items you're listing. As it is, she could as well have said "back to Agrabah, Flatland, and Bikini Bottom," and the emotional impact would have been exactly the same. Let's at least be a little imaginative while we're at it, shan't we? And these examples of casual geographical name-dropping, I think, are paradigmatic of the intention animating the way the book is written. It's not what you mean that's important or poetic, but only if you make it sound like it should mean something important and poetic.

The characterization, as I said before, is basically absent. You have Adeline. By authorial design, she is so purposefully not your stereotypical female, that she inevitably becomes a walking stereotype. Rebellious, free-spirited, adventure-starved, want-to-see-the-world-so-bad. And of course, she adores books. The lovechild of Belle and Ariel, I'd say. Henry, Adeline's co-protagonist, would have been interesting, I believe, if the question of his mental health (if that's even what we're talking about, because everything is described so poetically and metaphorically and indirectly that it's kind of difficult to be sure and not to put your foot in your mouth) had been explored somewhat more in depth. Since it wasn't, I feel allowed to joke about how emo it is that at twenty-six he bargained all the years he had yet to live except one, only to have people not be disappointed in him. Because the whole thing is told without an ounce of finesse, so it feels simply ludicrous rather than actually sad. The last co-protagonist, Luc (I'm not going to comment on the fact that he is some sort of ancestral preternatural force, and we're just going to call him Luc), I don't even know. I still feel like we don't know enough about him to make a statement of any kind.

I myself can't believe that I'm rating and reviewing this novel so harshly, but there it is. Believe me, I am just as incredulous and astonished as you are, if not, as is likely, a lot more. I was expecting The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue with trepidation, because I was so sure it would be a four- or even a five-star reading for me--and indeed, I feel like the premise was excellent, full of potential and conceptually rich; it was the execution that was clearly lacking, as I see it. Schwab had probably been spoiling me a bit too much, what with Vicious and the Shades of Magic series. Oh well. Next time then.

*Before (more) people go about accusing me of shortsightedness, let me point out that those adverbs are there (and have been there since the very first draft of this review, I didn't add them in this edit, I just underlined them) for a reason. The same applies to my use of such expressions as "I think," "I'd say," "I believe." Translation: I, personally, feel that this specific book didn't manage to achieve the emotionally engaging and immersive effect it meant to have on readers because of shortcomings in the style. This doesn't rule out the possibility that some novel somewhere might employ a style similar to this, and succeed marvellously. That's all.

“[…] It is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.
To remember when no one else does.”

Sounds good, right? And for a bit it was. I kinda loved it for about a 100 pages or so.

“I gave you what you asked for, Adeline. Time, without constraint. Life without restriction.”
“You cursed me to be forgotten.”
“You asked for freedom. There is no greater freedom than that. You can move through the world unhindered. Untethered. Unbound.”

Let’s list some, shall we?

- Why is Addie unable to say any variation of her name - until she suddenly can to Henry?

- How is Addie unable to leave her mark on the world (can’t even set an abandoned hut on fire) until she is able to transplant a tree sapling that grows into a full-size tree?

- So if everyone immediately forgets her the moment she’s out of sight, have none of her lovers ever needed a bathroom break in the course of the evenings they spent with her? Either she accompanied them to the toilet or else there was quite a bit of full-bladder lovemaking.

- Was there a point to the constant mentioning of her seven freckles (apparently shaped like a constellation) besides making her recognizable in the works of art? Because they are mentioned quite a bit, without much payoff. And everyone is mesmerized by them for some reason. Seven freckles. Over and over again. Freckles do not replace personality.

- Is there a reason Henry looks so much like Luc/ Adeline’s love fantasy from before her curse? Wouldn’t it be more interesting (especially (view spoiler)[given the nature of his curse (hide spoiler)] and the nature of his relationship with Addie) for him to be unremarkable-looking, plain, ordinary?

- How the hell is Henry able to afford his own apartment in New York without roommates on what is likely to be minimum wage even before (view spoiler)[the deal that makes him irresistible to others (hide spoiler)]? Plus him being able to afford a diamond ring on what I presume are measly paycheck leftovers from New York rent? What odd magic is at work here? Or are his parents still paying for him, therefore providing a decent reason for why people are not too impressed with him?

- Why do we not get to actually see the progression of much more interesting relationship between Addie and Luc?

- Why did it take a whole decade for Addie to become a fluent reader? I mean, seriously?

- And what exactly is so inspirational about Addie for her to impress all those artists and writers? There must be something, but we are not actually shown any of that. It can’t be just these FRECKLES, right?

- And why is Addie more interesting to the darkness/old god/Luc than, for instance, Beethoven or Shakespeare or Sinatra? Is that because of those freckles? They must be there for a reason, right?

- And does Schwab have a thing for curls or what?

- And don’t even get me started on insta-love that happens because plot needs it to, but with no chemistry between the leads whatsoever.

“Henry is an impossible thing, her strange and beautiful oasis. But he is also human, and humans have friends, have families, have a thousand strands tying them to other people. Unlike her, he has never been untethered, never existed in a void.”

For a book that is so long, it manages to leave the characters quite underdeveloped. Half of it consists of flashbacks to Addie’s 300 years of existence, but after a few they all assume the familiar repetitive feel - which may fit Addie’s repetitive “invisible” life but does not add that much to the story. In the meantime, there are tantalizing references to interesting things happening - French Revolution, World War II, transatlantic voyage - but all we get to see are mundane snippets with questionable love story, most of the development of which is just hinted at and then barely shown in the very end. “Show not tell” does not really happen much here.

And of course, everything is filled with angst. Oh, the angsty angst.

“[…] She wonders about Henry. Wonders at the loneliness she sees behind his eyes. Wonders at the way the waiters and the bartenders and the other patrons look at him, the warmth he doesn’t seem to notice.”

Yet I did not hate it. It was an easy read, done in competent, although at times much too flowery writing. The strength of the beginning carried me through at least half of it easily, so there’s that. It’s not bad; it’s just nothing as special as one would expect from all the buildup.

2.5 stars.

I know we’re at the fourth month and during our quarantine if I resume finishing approximately 10 to 14 books weekly, this means I can read nearly 500 more books but when you know, you know, this book is like unconditional love at first sight.

It’s a unique story about a village girl’s true demand of her independence, free will and having choices about her own life. She doesn’t want to be someone’s wife and somebody’s mother. She wanted to die standing tall just like trees. So she prays for the old gods and new gods but nobody answered her prayers but somebody heard her. She grabbed somebody’s true attention! Before her wedding, she knelt down on the soil and made a big mistake to pray after dark because she summoned the darkness. And she made a deal with the devil( green eyed, curly dark haired, a version of Lucifer Morningstar who uses contact lenses) for her freedom, earned her immortality at the expanse of being forgotten.

That’s right. Adeline La Rue became immortal and also expendable, cursed, living like a shadow by giving each person she met a short term memory lost. Anyone she meets turns into Guy Pearce from Memento and forgets her a few seconds later. That was the punishment his charming and cunny evil she called Luc gave her. She cannot even tell her name and write it anywhere. Only devil can call her name.

So Adeline shortens her name as Addie and starts her epic adventure, witnessing the world’s history, mostly spending her time at European countries, seeing the French Revolution, world wars, artistic, political, social economic movements and awakening of the cities.

She loved, she hurt, she suffered, she is neglected, abandoned, abused. She lived like a fugitive in people’s houses, learning to be skilled thief. Mostly at each anniversary she resumed her meeting with Luc who wants her obey and surrender to him completely by giving her soul.

But her biggest strength is her endurance and stubbornness because no matter how lonely she is, how she witness the people she fell for treating her like a stranger each time she meet them again, she still love to live fulfilled and learn from experiences. And she is wise enough to become unforgettable by living her thumb prints to the many art masterpieces from the drawings to the songs, books. Even her blurry photos left quite stunning impression on the people. She enjoyed the art and she was talented enough to leave her trace. That’s the real essence of immortality she contributed to the changing world.

But 300 years of solitude and loneliness end when she stops by the bookstore. Henry, the owner of the store, feeling too much, suffering from broken heart and melancholia looking for something but as like the song he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. Till he sees the girl tries to trick him by stealing books and he remembers her name.

Yes, after 300 freaking years later, somebody remembered Addie. How? Who is this? Just a lonely boy who wants to love and to be loved in return! Addie thinks she tricked Luc, she found her soul mate but everything comes with the price like her free will and immortality. Is she ready pay for the unconditional love? Is there still hope for her future? Or Luc is about to win their duello by pulling out a last deadly trick? Let’s get lost at this incredible journey to find out.

The ending is a little surprising but it was also hopeful and motivational. I don’t want to talk about because I’m afraid of giving too many details and ruin everything but I wish I could read more adventures of Addie. Fingers crossed!
This is the best book tributes to living and enjoying life fulfilled and healing power of the art. Even though Addie is lonely, cursed, abandoned, she has strong willpower, tough and fearless because she never regrets the life she has lived.

Here is one of my favorite part of the book:
“And she is tired. Unspeakably tired.
But there is no question she has lived.
“Nothing is all good or all bad”, she says. “Life is so much messier than that.”
And there in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it.
Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow?”
Were the moments of beauty worth the years of pain?
And she turns her head, and looks at him, and says, “Always”

So is this book worth to fall in at first sentence? ABSOLUTELY! Five stars won’t be enough!

So much thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for sharing this fantastic ARC and giving me this opportunity to read and review it. I loved it so much! This is not one of the best books I’ve read lately, this also turned into one of my favorite books of V.E. Schwab. I wish it would never end!

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I know how many people love V.E. Schwab to death, and I know how many people were completely blown away by The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but I just do not get it. This was a

Plot-wise, this story could have been so thrilling. The plot begins when Addie LaRue, our protagonist, makes a deal with the devil in order to get out of an arranged marriage, and finally live the adventurous life she has always dreamed of living. But there is a catch. Not only does she become immortal, she is also instantly forgotten about by every person she meets as soon as they leave the room she is in.

Ultimately, the book was anything but exciting. Most of my favourite books lack a spectacular plot, and I am always in the mood for a good slow-burn, but this could easily have been condensed to a 200-page book without leaving out anything of the slightest importance. At least half of the book did not add a single thing to the overall narrative, the development of the characters, the atmosphere...

About three hundred years after the spell is cast, Henry Strauss (somebody with no interesting characteristics whatsoever) meets Addie in the second-hand bookshop where he works. When Addie returns to the shop days later, Henry still remembers who she is. This is the part where the insta-love and the cringey rom-com montage scenes come in.

"Three words, large enough to tip the world. I remember you."

Now, Addie is an incredibly dull character to begin with. She is self-centered and insensitive, and really has no hobbies (which is quite strange for someone that has been alive for three hundred years and counting). So, as you can imagine, when circumstances push her toward developing feelings for another flat character, the relationship is as stale as can be. Because what do Henry and Addie ever do except walk around in New York City?

I understand that insignificant scenes of everyday life can have the ability to let readers fully connect, but what this book lacks is a clear point. Over-explaining is Schwab's downfall with this one. At the beginning of the novel, I enjoyed the theme she explores of art essentially being the only truly immortal part of human life — but as the chapters went by, and Schwab kept substantiating the point she was trying to make a thousand different times in exactly the same ways, I ended up being bored out of my mind.

This repetitiveness is not only to be found in the plot itself, but also in the writing. I have heard many people say that this is the best writing they have seen from Schwab to date. That it is beautiful. That it is lyrical. To each their own, but if this is considered to be amazing writing, I do start to wonder how low the bar is on that topic. The text is filled with obscure metaphors that do not make much sense, the same sentence structure is used continuously, and many words and phrases are used, reused, and re-reused...

Can somebody count how many times a sentence starts with 'and yet' or 'blink'? How many times some boy has 'black curls tumbling over their forehead'? How many times Addie's seven beautiful freckles form a constellation or some shit?

Or how many times Addie LaRue wants to be a fucking tree?

You would think, with that off-beat plot, the author would have been able to make up for what was lacking in other areas. It could easily have been made less excruciating to get through this book if, say, Addie got involved in the historical events that shaped the world as we know it today. That would have been interesting. The author, however, decided to mention Frank Sinatra and Beethoven, have Addie be imprisoned in Germany for a split second before letting her be saved by the devil, and be done with it. Schwab gave herself ten years to write this book, and she still let herself (and her main character) gloss over the most important events.

To me, this book is just as forgettable as Addie LaRue herself.

---------------

Additional Notes:
- First time reading anything by Schwab. Possibly also the last time
- The cat called Book is the only thing I wanted to read about

Attention: all ghouls, witches, wizards, sorcerers and -esses, devils, creatures of the night, and other harbingers of vaguely this-seems-like-a-bad-idea type magic…

Let’s make a deal.

According to this book, you’re making bargains with any bozo who sputters her way into seventeenth-century French bodies of water, and I want in on the opportunity.

Yes, you read that correctly. Our protagonist, Addie LaRue, is a complete bozo.

For those of you who have been living under a rock that no overhyped bestseller can permeate, 1) drop that address and 2) I’ll give you a lil synopsis, so you can continue your very wise decision to avoid this book but for my review (high praise, really).

We begin with the most boring story ever told: A girl in seventeenth-century France who is bored. Her name is Addie. She has freckles that look like stars, for some reason, but you do not have to remember that because she and every other person she meets will never shut the ever-living f*ck up about it.

Speaking of ever-living f*cks, Addie considers herself better than all those other girls who are also expected to marry and live normally, so she makes a deal with a devil-type guy that she’s allowed to live forever. In exchange, no one remembers who she is.

Tough luck? I guess? I don’t know, I got sick of Addie complaining within about 4 months. And we have 300-some-odd years to go. So sorry your immortality isn’t exactly what you pictured. Boo-hoo.

The whole thing reminds me of how I watched Marie Antoinette with a friend recently and spent the entire duration of it unable to believe I was expected to sympathize with MARIE ANTOINETTE. Sure, she had to get married to someone she didn’t want to marry...along with EVERY WOMAN ALIVE. Is it my fault she lived a life of incredible privilege and didn’t spend it very well? No, it’s not. And I won’t allow Sofia Coppola to punish me for it.

Relatedly, no one could have lived from the early 1700s to present and done a worse job of it than Addie LaRue.

She travels only within Europe until World War II (and really mostly in France at that), then moves to America and really sees nothing more than LA, NYC, and NOLA. (Love an initialism.) She manages to meet no people of color. She never considers slavery, revolution, women’s suffrage, or civil rights. She doesn’t travel to a single majority-POC area. She learns several languages, all of them Western.

She is the most irritating stupid idiot alive. I want to throttle her.

On top of that, this book has very little going for it other than pretty writing. (I’ll hand it to you, Schwab - your style went from doing nothing for me to almost distracting me from what a dumpster fire everything else was from time to time.)

I didn’t like Addie for a second, but I tried to like everyone else. Henry, for example, seemed like he could be My Type, as a skinny guy who works in a bookstore - but he felt like anyone. Henry’s two (2) friends, who represent the entirety of the, well, representation in this book, seemed fine, but we never got to confirm or deny that because (as you may have already guessed from the inkling of diversity) they are almost never present.

This just felt half-baked and silly. There was no plot to speak of until maybe the last 100 pages, and the ending was ultimately so disappointing and ridiculous that I almost wish the plotlessness had stuck around.

Just a note, to any, ahem, authors who might find it helpful: If characters are boring and unremarkable, and the story feels flat, and the romance never hits, then going for a big emotional ending isn’t going to do much for anybody.

Anyway. Yeah, I hated this.

Bottom line: Dropping from a 3 to a 2 to 1.5. (The writing was nice.)

---------------
pre-review

took me long enough.

review to come / 3 stars (actually 2)

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currently-reading updates

at the rate i am reading this, i will finish it just in time for my 2021 wrap up

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tbr review

no, i have never enjoyed a VE Schwab book.

yes, i desperately want to read this one.

we exist

"And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark."

Totally sucked in. The prose is a little more poetic than Schwab's usual style, but I think it worked. I also really got on board emotionally with the premise of this book. In exchange for immortality, Addie is doomed to be forgotten by everyone she meets, unable to leave a mark. As soon as she's out of sight, she's out of mind, never to be remembered. Her family forget her. She becomes a stranger to everyone she loves. It is, as you can imagine, a most painful lonely existence.

I can see why some might find it slow, but I found it sad and infuriating enough to be engaging.

It is that big chunk of book between approximately page 150 and 350 where this story lost me. As soon as the love interest arrived on the scene and the whirlwind romance started, I began to lose my emotional attachment to the story. A number of things about this part irked me. The way the purple prose bled over into dialogue (which I never like), the way I instantly guessed the truth about Henry, and, my god, the way we had to be reminded of his "black curls" every time he appears on page.

We also get a lot of backstory about Henry and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I appreciated the discussions about depression and anxiety, and I honestly related to a lot of what the author describes here, but I also found Henry just quite boring in general. I wasn't interested in his relationships with his friends and family, so the chapters we spend with him dragged for me.

It grew repetitive, too. After the interesting start, the story seemed to wander around aimlessly. Addie & Henry gazed into each other's eyes a lot between various flashbacks to Addie's escapades during the last 300 years. The darkness appears and whispers evil things, Addie meets people and is then forgotten over and over.

I did like the ending, though. I feel like it will be polarizing because it is left somewhat open (though not for a sequel, I hope), but I liked the lack of neatness and found the final chapter very satisfying.

One more thing. There's been a bit of controversy over how Schwab's adult books are often wrongly categorized as YA because she is a woman. While I have no doubt women writers do suffer this indignity, I've read a good amount of YA and adult fantasy from both men and women and I still cannot shake the feeling that this book has a very strong YA vibe to it. I know it's a completely subjective line to draw anyway, but I would be far more likely to recommend this book to YA fans than to fans of adult fantasy. Compare this to other women who write adult fantasy like Jemisin, Le Guin, Butler, Wecker and Marillier, and it's a whole different vibe and maturity level, I feel.

With the tagline, A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget; I should have known this was going to happen. The infamous book hangover.

Y'all, she hurts. Everything hurts.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is an experience. I don't feel like I have ever been this beaten up by a book.

It was literally like Schwab was taking an ice pick to my heart and slowly chipping pieces away through the entire story. I felt the weight of it.

There were times I actually had to set it down and step away. I can't be held accountable for my actions during those moments.

Honestly, it's a bit of a blur.

Addie LaRue is a character who has an extraordinary story to tell, yet no way to tell it.

In 1714, she entered into a Faustian bargain granting her eternal life. The downfall, she will be forgotten by every person she ever meets, unable to do even the simplest of things, like telling someone her name.

Addie flounders for years, trying to determine how best to live within the constraints of the deal.

It is a struggle; nothing comes easy. Addie's only connection, the dark being who granted her wish, a being named, Luc.

These scenes of Addie trying to find her way, adapting to her new reality, were hard to read. In fact, they were some of the most melancholy scenes I have ever read.

It was gripping, beautiful and painful, all at the same time. The writing was able to elicit such empathy for Addie's position. I found it to be extremely powerful.

Addie eventually develops a semi-comfortable pattern for living, until one day, in 2014-New York City, a boy in a bookstore changes everything.

He remembers her.

Intricately weaving together both past and present timelines, Schwab sweeps you up into a love story centuries in the making.

There's tender intimacy, sacrifice and tasty bites of food for thought the entire way through.

Additionally, I loved the exploration of the power of the arts to transcend space and time. There's an underlining theme of art, in many different forms, creating a sort of timeless influence on future generations.

It felt like a love letter to artistic expression and I was so into that whole vibe.

Overall, I think this is a very special story. One that will have a great and lasting impact on a lot of people.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I will never forget Addie, or her story.

Where do I start? This was a good book. What you'd expect from Victoria Schwab. Magical and lyrical. And yet...I turned the last page and was left wanting.

This is the book that Victoria has been working on for 10 years. And yes it's pretty. It's an amazing concept and an intriguing beginning. But I first read this in July and now, barely three months later, I cannot remember all that much except for the fact that Addie has seven bloody freckles in her face like a constellation of stars. It was mentioned so often, I had no chance to forget. It's on the cover too. Literally couldn't be more in your face. This is probably the thing that bugged me the most about this whole book. The damn freckles.

Character-wise I have to admit that I didn't fall in love with either main character. I didn't warm up to Addie and I cannot tell you why. I can't say much about her except that she's smart and really doesn't want to die, which is relatable I guess, but not enough to make me feel for her. The same goes for Henry. He's pretty and smart and doesn't want to die, which is relatable I guess, but he doesn't have enough edges for me to care for him. I did love that they were both queer, though. But that alone doesn't make for a fascinating character.

It took a while for the plot to get rolling. For the first half of the novel Addie simply floats through time and makes some wondrous and some horrible experiences. And everyone who meets her forgets about her as soon as she leaves the room. But after that happened to the third person, I got it. After that, the book didn't hold many surprises.

Overall, definitely a nice book to pass the time, and for someone who is only just getting started reading her books, it sure is a beautiful introduction. Personally, I've gobbled up every single one of her books and Addie didn't do what Vicious and A Darker Shade of Magic and The Archived did to me. That is draw me in and never let me go.

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That's it.

I felt like I was missing some weight or substance in this book. And I know why. There was to much (probably the most in any book that I've read), way too much of telling and less showing. Like the whole book was basically described to me; I couldn't live, learn it, or see it. And that was fundamentally most disappointing to me. We were living through someone else's view- a narrow field of view at that, and still could barely get a taste.

Also this book is very white. We're told that Addie got to experience and travel to a plethora of different and vast places- Spain, Singapore, India, Beijing, etc...and yet we never even got to visit those places with her; instead, we're stuck in Europe- mainly France, Germany, and Italy. And then New York. So much could have been done and said in these other different places and countries that are full of rich history, context, and people of color. But I guess that doesn't matter because Addie has fully lived. Sure. We just didn't live long enough to see it (pun intended). It would have been nice to see Addie play some part or take part in large of the events and movements important in history regarding BIPOC and LGTBQIA, especially since Addie is bisexual in the book. But none of that is ever brought up.

The writing for this book was incredible. Chef's kiss. My type of writing right here. Not too flowery or pretty; just the right kind of song, beat, and rhythm. Probably the best aspect of the entire book. Henry to me, was the better character to read about; I wanted to get to know him better and I preferred his arc over Addie's. Even though he's a basic lonely boy just wanting to be loved. Still, the ending of the book, I think, was the weakest. I could already tell what was going to go down and what would happen. Does that necessarily mean a bad thing? No. But if that was the scale of the ending to a whole premise based on bargain of immortality, finding love, and being able to live again, I would have expected it to be different, a roaring epic showdown of proportionate value.....instead it was kind of lame.

Overall a book with a great premise and wonderful writing that ultimately fell a little too flat for me. Henry <3 I love you bb.

Read for The Late Night Book Club

3.75 STARS
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Addie doesn't want the traditional 18th century life of just being a wife and mother at her poor provincial town. So on the eve of a forced marriage, she makes a deal with the devil for her heart's most fervent wish. Though that deal traps her in a curse, it also sets her on a most unexpected journey.

My foremost thought while reading this book is: gosh, this sure is a very long book for the amount of content in here. Not much happens through most of the pages. The actual plot in here is fairly simple and straightforward. In fact, you could safely cut out a lot of the paragraphs and chapters and not lose any meaning to the story, which is never a good sign.

So what is 450 pages filled with, you ask? Paragraphs and paragraphs of pretty writing. If it could be said in one sentence, it's said in several fluffy paragraphs. If one metaphor suffices, well, they come in sets of three or four, every time. It's all a bit much. In fact, it often seems as if the author cared more about putting together clever floral word arrangements than moving the plot along.

The other issue is that Addie is fairly naive, so this book comes across as distinctly YA even though it's marketed to adults. Her decisions, her thoughts, her growth (or lack thereof), her romances, they all feel very young. Though we follow Addie through her youth and later years, her character sounds exactly the same throughout.

Yet, for all the flaws, there is something undeniably charming in the story. I cared about the characters and what happens to them. And I found the premise intriguing. It reminds me of the movie The Age of Adaline, which takes a similar concept and does it much better, though coincidentally with a similar name.

In the end, I liked this book enough. There were moments of brilliance that really made this story shine. But they were often buried deep under mountains of indulgent verbal gymnastics that tested my patience to the extreme. I can't help but feel this was a missed opportunity, that with some aggressive editing, this could've been a stellar read.

__________________________

i honestly dont know what i could say that hasnt already been said. every positive thing you have read about this book, take it and multiply it by 100. thats how stunning this story is.

ive always been a fan of schwab. i love how atmospheric, energetic, and wholly engaging her stories are. but wow. i would have never expected her to write something so beautiful, so alluring, so comforting. i really like this look for her writing and i hope she continues this style of storytelling. i think i would dare to say this is probably her best work to date. its that remarkable.

easily a new favourite.

↠ 5 stars

I hope you love it.

ETA: I can't believe we made it. Addie spent so many years haunting me, I hope she haunts a few of you. <3

Love story between a French girl and the devil over 300 years...

I tried to go into this book with low expectations considering romance isn't my genre and... Wow, this has to be V. E. Schwab's best book!

I've always liked her writing but this character-driven, slow-paced story really works for her. It's closer to literary fiction than her other work and her characters are much stronger.

Frankly, I recommend you go into it knowing nothing else.

Pick it up!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a mesmerizing tapestry woven from heartbreak and desperation and yet, somewhere in the midst of the suffering, the pure joy of living. This book touched my heart in places I didn't know existed. It tore open the gates of my emotions and ripped them apart mercilessly.

We follow Addie LaRue, a French woman longing for freedom, who strikes a bargain with a god named Luc. She will live forever—for a price. A blink, and Addie LaRue is gone. Turn away, and she is forgotten. Her name chokes in her throat when she tries to speak it. Words she writes are erased by an invisible hand. When she attempts to tell her story, she is silenced. Slowly, she loses hope. In her stubbornness, she refuses to give her soul to Luc, even as she begins to despair and finds herself the victim of blank stares and confused glances. Until she meets Henry Strauss, who speaks three words that change her life forever.

I remember you.

Schwab's writing is dreamy, poetic, lyrical, melancholy—lonely. Addie LaRue is so lonely, and you can feel her sorrow with every word she speaks. Her friendships dissolve overnight, her parents don't remember her face. And it physically pains me. No one but V.E. Schwab could have written such a delicate and pensive novel.

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

Addie is a protagonist who lives on despite it all. She leaves her mark where she can, in blurry photographs and wistful song lyrics. She's not remarkable, but this works in the novel's favor. She is always forgotten; it wouldn't make sense for her to stand out. And yet, my soul was touched by her struggles and I saw bits of myself in her.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of my favorite books of all time. It's quiet, not showy at all, but beautiful and lyrical and personal. Schwab poured her heart and soul into this novel, and it shows.

______

I want to delete my emotions.
RIP my heart.
RTC

Just released my

Top 10 Books from 2020 BookTube Video - now that you know this one made the list, click the link to find the rest!

Here's my full Unboxing and Video Review - click the link to check it out!

Annnd here's my original reaction to this book!

It's here! It's here! It's here!

Cancel all the plans - it's reading time!!

Update - 50%

So far, so good! Such a compelling story - I'm addicted!

Update - Finished

Victoria. Did you have to rip out my heart and stomp on it like what? 5 stars but I'm also dead.

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I feel like this book was written for me because Addie is just the most relatable independent bad bitch and the way she talks about how much she loves books, movies and New York City, yeah that’s basically my brand.

I’m not usually one to read historical fiction or fantasy but this book was magical. The writing was absolute perfection, so gorgeous I could cry just thinking about it. I love the idea of reading about a character who is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets, it was fascinating and I just can’t imagine how lonely she is. It’s devastating to imagine.

I thought parts 2 and 3 were a little slow, but part 4 really knocked it out of the park for me and I loved learning more about Henry’s character. I just really adore Henry’s character so hard.

The ending literally made me cry like a bitch. I made a weird gasping sound during one scene that really got to me and then it was a flood of tears until the last page. This is definitely an all time favorite, I’m not going to be forgetting this story anytime soon.

Also kind of a side note here but the song cardigan by Taylor Swift came on as I was reading and now I’ll never listen to that song and not think of this book.

“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.” 😭

it's definitely a slow paced book with stunning writing. this is my favourite ve schwab book in terms of the writing style. SO many good quotes.

thank you TOR for sending me an early digital copy for review <3

it was a love triangle and it was quite pointless. it was like she needed one thing to help push the story along so she just came up with a whole person and made them the love interest. but i don’t think her being in love with him was very believable at all.

i think that V.E. Schwab has a habit of writing her female characters to be “not like other girls” and i was hoping that it wouldn’t be the same but sadly it was. i think that she tends to self insert with her characters when it comes to that aspect and you can very much tell. someone please tell her it’s okay to be girly and that being “different” and not into what makes you feminine doesn’t make you special, it feels very put downish.

i wanted to like this book so much because her writing was better than it typically is and i liked a lot of the quotes a lot and i liked the fact that we learned why Addie wanted to live forever and saw people forgetting about her. even how some chapters were in present day and the next was in the past.

but i just feel bamboozled like why advertise it as something it clearly isn’t? like i said the book is good and i can understand why people would love it, i just feel like, don’t make the book out to be something that it isn’t because for people who came for the romance are going to be very disappointed and speaking of the romance, i feel like the romance in general was poo poo. i don’t think that Schwab is good at writing romance at all.

i hated nothing more the corny ass ending too, i don’t mind ambiguous endings but this one was just so bad, it’s something i would’ve wrote in my 5th grade fictional books i used to do for class.

I'm having a hard time thinking about what I want to say here, but I want to get something down before this review ends up in the "review to come" abyss, never to be seen or heard from again. The irony there, right?

Anyway...

I LOVED this book. Especially the first 220 pages.

Schwab's writing was superb. I actually have two complete series by her on my shelves and have yet to finish a single book by her...I'm hoping I didn't set myself up for constant disappoint here by making my first finish by her be her best.

But I digress. The writing.

Soooooo good. Truly. I am not a fan of purple prose, really. And while I don't necessarily think this was full on purple, it was definitely poignant and almost lyrical at times. Schwab has a way of describing things that makes them tangible. Something unique and yet very everyone at the same time.

And Addie...

What a character. I just adored her and her story. Especially, as I said, the first 220 pages of it. After that...well, that's were that -.5 star comes in, I suppose. Without giving spoilers, I will just say that the tone and haunting quality of the story changed a little bit when Henry arrived on scene. And I couldn't help but feel that something had been lost even though I know we, along with Addie, were supposed to feel like something had been gained.

Or maybe that was the point.

Before starting this, I had an idea of how things would end...and I was actually right. I just didn't know I would enjoy how things would go so much. But I think the journey is perhaps the point, isn't it?

Anyway, I don't want to give anything away, so I will stop here.
Some things are better left open-ended, no?

Adeline had wanted to be a tree.
To grow wild and deep, belong to no one but the ground beneath her feet, and the sky above, just like Estele. It would be an unconventional life, and perhaps a little lonely, but at least it would be hers. She would belong to no one but herself.

Day breaks like an egg yolk, spilling light across the field.

"Your freckles look like stars."
Addie smiles. "I’ve heard. My own little constellation. It’s the first thing everyone sees."

Live long enough, and you will learn how to read a person. To ease them open like a good book, some passages underlined and others hidden between the lines.

"I don’t mean in normal, time flies way," Henry’s saying. "I mean feeling like its surging by so fast, and you try to reach out and grab it, you try to hold on, but it just keeps rushing away. And every second, there’s a little less time, and a little less air, and sometimes when I’m sitting still, I start to think about it, and when I think about it, I can’t breathe. I have to get up. I have to move."

His heart has a draft.
It lets in light.
It lets in storms.
It lets in everything.

Memories are stiff, but thoughts are freer things. They throw it roots, they spread and tangle, and come untethered from their source. They are clever, and stubborn, and perhaps-perhaps-they are in reach.

I don’t like all of V.E. Schwab’s books.
I wasn’t sure I ever would.
Then I found Addie
Then Henry

This story chewed me up
Spit me out

It touched me in so many ways I can not explain. But that’s the miracle of books.... they can save you and they can break you....

Mel ❌⭕️❌⭕️

BLOG:
//melissa413readsalot.blogspot....

“Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because visions weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades.... Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end... everyone wants to be remembered.”

~ Rating- 4 stars ~

(Content/ Trigger Warnings)

-Mention of some of these in the review-

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is an extremely popular book. It is also very different from my preferred genre of reading, so this experience was unique for me. I enjoyed the book a lot, and fortunately I was not completely disappointed in it.

However, I still have several issues with it.

➼The plot

Addie LaRue makes a bargain to live forever. A bargain to be immortal. But she is also cursed to be forgotten. Cursed to never be remembered.

“Being forgotten, she thinks, is a bit like going mad. You begin to wonder what is real, if you are real. After all, how can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered?”

For 300 years she has lived this curse, moving from places to places and learning new things. Meeting new people and exploring the world.

“But this is how you walk to the end of the world. This is how you live forever. Here is one day, and here is the next, and the next, and you take what you can, savor every stolen second, cling to every moment, until it’s gone.”

But Addie wants to leave a mark in this world. She wants to be remembered. She wants to live.

“If a person cannot leave a mark, do they exist?”

One day, someone remembers her and Addie’s whole life changes.

“I remember you.”

The plot of the book was engaging, and I enjoyed reading it. There is a constant repetition of how lonely Addie is, but I think it is done for us to sympathise with her character.

“Live long enough, and you learn how to read a person. To ease them open like a book, some passages underlined and others hidden between the lines.”

There weren’t any major plot twists in the book, but it was still interesting. I personally liked the ending, but I feel that instead of concluding everything there are still several loose ends left which weren’t tied.

“What is a person without a mark?”

This is also very romance focused, and I do feel that it had a lot more potential. It could have been a very powerful book which explored the experiences of someone who has lived for 300 years and shown how we humans have evolved with time. However, this part of the book wasn’t explored at all.

This book is a standalone, but there is a possibility it might become a series in the future due to the ending. But I enjoyed the rest of the book regardless.

➼The world

This book is technically set in France, but we explore a lot of other places like Europe, Germany. I enjoyed seeing these glimpses into Addie’s past but this is one of the major issues I had with this book.

Addie has lived for 300 years, yet she has only explored 3 continents. Even the languages she knows can be counted on fingers. Addie’s personally is shown to be curious, in fact the reason she wanted to live forever in the first place was to see the world.

Why hasn’t Addie seen more countries, cities, even villages? I think it goes against everything that we know of Addie’s personality not to explore the rest of the world.

Joel Rochester’s review and Cindy Pham’s video do a much better job at explaining and expanding my point.

Addie touches on her experiences of war, but we don’t get much details from her regarding it. I understand why that was the case, but I think it would have been interesting to explore Addie’s feelings and her experience more in detail.

“The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price. And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”

In this world, there happen to be new Gods, and old Gods.

We know that The Darkness was the one who cursed Addie, but we hardly get any details on how exactly this system works. We get to know some details about the concept of ‘taking a soul’ and the rules and regulations regarding it, but I would have loved to see it more in detail.

I did find the few places we saw interesting and I loved reading about Addie’s past.

➼The writing

They say people are like snowflakes, each one unique, but I think they're more like skies. Some are cloudy, some are stormy, some are clear, but no two are ever quite the same.

The writing of this book was absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed every bit of it.

“Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.”

It is quite slow paced though, and there is a constant use of telling instead of showing. But I still loved the writing.

“Memories are stiff, but thoughts are freer things. They throw out roots, they spread and tangle, and come untethered from their source. They are clever, and stubborn, and perhaps--perhaps--they are in reach.”

➼The characters

➡Addie

“I do not want to marry. I do not want to belong to someone else. I do not want to belong to anyone but myself. I want to be free. Free to live, and to find my own way, to love, or to be alone, but at least it is my choice, and I am so tired of not having choices, so scared of the years rushing past beneath my feet. I do not want to die as I've lived, which is no life at all.”

Addie is a curious person, and we can see that through her story. She loves to learn new things. I liked her as a character and I felt bad for what she had to endure.

“But a life without art, without wonder, without beautiful things—she would go mad. She has gone mad.”

But I didn’t like the fact that throughout a course of 300 years, Addie’s personally never changes.

“Do you think a life has any value if one doesn’t leave some mark upon the world?”

Addie isn’t ever remembered by anyone, which means she can steal. She uses this to her benefit and it’s also her only way at survival. I liked this moral greyness to her character, but if she does steal she could use this to help others in need as well.

But we don’t see her caring for anyone but herself, and though I don’t mind a selfish character, does she really never change in 300 years? Doesn’t she question her thinking and ponder about change?

What I mean to say is, in 300 years Addie LaRue doesn’t change.

No matter how many times she walks these blocks, no matter how many hours, or days, or years she spends learning the contours of New York, as soon as she turns her back it seems to shift again, reassemble. Buildings go up and come down, businesses open and close, people arrive and depart and the deck shuffles itself again and again and again.

The entire world changes, but Addie doesn’t. She’s still the same person. Her thinking is still the same.

I think that circumstances mould people, and if Addie has lived for so long wouldn’t something about her change?

This could have been an excellent way of showing how people change with time, but this factor was never explored in the book.

I did like her character, but I still felt that there was so much more potential to Addie LaRue that we never get to see.

“And there in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it.
Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow?
Were the moments of beauty worth the year of pain?
And she turns her head, and looks at him, and says 'Always.”

➡The Darkness

“The vexing thing about time,” he says, “is that it’s never enough. Perhaps a decade too short, perhaps a moment. But a life always ends too soon.”

The Darkness or Luc, is the main villain of the book. He is the one who curses Addie and gives her a life of immortality at the cost of being forgotten.

I personally didn’t find him as a villain and saw him more as a morally grey character.

I liked him and he is my favourite character of this book. His character arc was complex and I feel there is a lot more to him than we got to see. I would have liked to see more of his character.

“I am stronger than your god and older than your devil. I am the darkness between stars, and the roots beneath the earth. I am promise, and potential, and when it comes to playing games, I divine the rules, I set the pieces, and I choose when to play.”

➡Henry

“I remember seeing that picture and realizing that photographs weren’t real. There’s no context, just the illusion that you’re showing a snapshot of a life, but life isn’t snapshots, it’s fluid. So photos are like fictions. I loved that about them. Everyone thinks photography is truth, but it’s just a very convincing lie.”

I found Henry to be an ok character. I don’t have any strong emotions for him, but he definitely got more interesting when his backstory was explored.

I felt that he was just there in the story for the sake of it, and I didn’t like that so much.

“They teach you growing up that you are only one thing at a time—angry, lonely, content—but he’s never found that to be true. He is a dozen things at once. He is lost and scared and grateful, he is sorry and happy and afraid.”

➼The romance

I do not ship Addie with anyone. I did not like Addie with Henry or The Darkness. In my opinion, she's better off not ending with anyone, but I ship her more with The Darkness over Henry.

“It is easy to be honest when there are no wrong words, because the words don't stick. When whatever you say belongs to only you.”

➼Audiobook Comments

The audiobook narration was absolutely excellent and if you are comfortable with the format and have access to the audiobook, I would recommend you to read it.

The narration was very impactful and I don’t think I would have felt so connected with Addie’s story if I had read the copy.

➼Final thoughts

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is an engaging book and it kept me invested. This book is not YA though, and I would not recommend the book to anyone under 14, as I feel this deals with much more mature content. Despite my issues with the book, it was a very fun and emotional read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

“And when she does look up, her gaze always goes to the edge of town.
"A dreamer," scorns her mother.
"A dreamer," mourns her father.
"A dreamer," warns Estele.
Still, it does not seem such a bad word.
Until Adeline wakes up.”

BOTM for the group The one who reads several books.
Here is the thread. (Note- the thread has spoilers, do not click if you haven't read the book)

Review written on 11th March, 2021.

DISCLAIMER- All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.

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Pre review thoughts

4 stars.
Review to come.

Well here are my thoughts for now. I’ll write a detailed review later.

So I loved the writing. Enjoyed it a lot.
But one issue I had with that was the telling vs showing.

I loved the flashback scenes a lot though.
But the issue I has was that Addie has lived for 300 years, yet in all this time there are hardly 5-6 places explored. Even the languages she knows can be counted in fingers.
If she’s lived for so long, wouldn’t she have wanted to learn more? Explore more? Read more?

Another thing is addie’s personally.
She’s lived for so long, yet her personality doesn’t change at all. 300 years, and no change? That’s a bit hard to believe as I feel people keep changing. Circumstances mould people, and after all that addie been through I expected some change in her way of thinking.

So this is why this book is not a five star for me.
I loved it, enjoyed it but it’s not a five star.
But this is a standalone, so I will cut it some slack. It’s just that I would have liked to see these points explored more.