My time has come to finally review this book that ever since its release, it has been blowing up everywhere in the book community and I just couldn’t help but to give it a try. Continue reading this article to find out if it was worth it.
Book Sheet
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publication date: October 6th, 2020
Main characters: Addie LaRue; Henry Strauss; Luc
POV: Addie; Henry
Sequel, number in series, or stand-alone? Stand-alone
Previous book: –
Following book: –
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Synopsys
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
Review
“Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end, everyone wants to be remembered.”
Even after a while of having finished this story, I still fail to find the right words to describe it. I think that while reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I fell in love. But not with the characters, like I usually do, but with a beautiful concept, a painful idea, years and years of wandering, what I would do if I was in her place.
Who wants to live forever?
The author’s creativity and courage amazes me on a different level. Because yes, in order to write this book, one must ought to have some nerve. To make the right choices, to allow the tale to unfold itself as it should, to make it all oh, so fitting for without looking to please anyone. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is an anthem for those who wander, is the kind of story that can be wrong to someone but so right for those who need it.
On the things I didn’t like, I think that I wasn’t much comfortable with the pacing, it took me a good one-hundred pages to warm up to the story solely due to the fact that every time I started to invest myself in the present, we got dragged back to the past again, and so on. Even though I usually enjoy when authors play with flash-backs and time in general, this one happened so often that it interrupted my rhythm. I think that the only time I couldn’t really let go of the book was in the last part.
Then, come the characters. I really enjoyed Addie. She was smart, and vivacious, I liked how wise she was, how she had managed to live three-hundred-years, seen cities rise and fall, wars brew in the places she loved, and still managed to preserve some sort of childish naivety, still found ways to amuse herself, to get surprised by the wonders of the world. But I never loved her, you know? I liked her, I cared about what happened to her, but there was something that prevented me from truly loving her. I don’t know what it was, exactly, but I do remember getting annoyed by the fact that she was so intent in finding a lover. Not that it was only senseless because people couldn’t remember her, but why was it always a lover? Why didn’t she try to find a friend?
And on the other hand, I think she was a bit too perfect, she always knew the right thing to say or do, and no matter where she went, everyone, literally everyone fell in love with her.
On the other side, we have Henry, our lost book-seller and the first time Addie heart the words “I remember you.” With this character, I always knew I wouldn’t love him, he was nice, and kind, but I knew he wasn’t it. I never liked their relationship together, it felt that they were tied solely by the fact that it was the only person who Addie could make ties with, it wasn’t true love, and I felt it right from the start. However, I did enjoy the moments they shared together, and in other circumstances I think that they would’ve constructed a great friendship.
What did caught me off-guard about Henry is how dark he was. He dealt with depression and alcoholism, which took him to really bad places I was not expecting to travel in this book. Just a little heads-up if you are sensible to these topics.
I think it’s the first time I’ve seen represented a M-W couple in which both of them are queer so prompts to the author for that.
Finally, we have Luc. This is the name Addie gives to the devil she made a deal with and over the centuries, we start to see how their relationship develops and it was definitely one of my favorite things to read, and it was truly unexpected. I think that Luc was my favorite character, he has so many layers and just when you think you’ve cracked a code, he leads you to another way completely. I liked how the author explored the idea that even though he’s the devil, he might feel lonely too.
In the end, we all want to be remembered.
This is why I think that the ending was a little cruel on him, especially when he cannot help his nature. But it was the right thing to do. I just hope Addie changes her mind…
If you want to know what I’m talking about, I guess you will have to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and find out by yourselves.
I think that is all I have for you today but, if you are interested in my rants, you can follow me on Goodreads, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, where I like to get a little goofier. And if you want more content about books, stay tuned to the blog!
And remember, even if sometimes feels like it, you´re not alone, there´s always someone rooting for you. But if you feel that no one out there is, I would happily be that person, here´s my email if you ever need someone to talk to, I will respond. embooks03@gmail.com
