Ratings1,167
Average rating4.1
There was so much that I loved about this book. The concept is so good, and handled so well. It's tragic, poetic, funny, fantastic, and relatable all at once. The thing I enjoyed most is how the main character's curse is used to explore some familiar human experiences in the extreme. I won't spoil any details of the curse/curses here but they work as great allegories for how some people genuinely experience the world and posed some excellent philosophical questions throughout the book that I'm still thinking about.
It's very much folklore/fable and the story feels fresh and new while also possessing a timeless quality that makes it feel like it's always existed. It reminded me of A Picture of Dorian Gray meets the Story of the Magic Thread/The Boy and The Golden Thread.
If this book could have been a bit shorter I would have given it 5 stars... there are some great reveals and twists but once I got the gist of where it was going, I was ready for it to be over about 80 pages before the end. Not that those 80 pages were bad! This book is beautifully written and highly quotable all the way through... but with a story that feels so clear and simple at its core, and characters that are so well defined from the moment you meet them, the excess was more noticeable. I also felt like the ending pulled some punches, that ultimately diluted the experience for me.
I'd still highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an imaginative, fantasy fuelled, introspection inducing character study.
We first meet Addie LaRue as a desperate young woman trying to avoid a life where she lives and dies in the same small village as the wife of a man she does not love who'd consign her to a fate of likely dying in childbirth. She makes a deal with the darkness to live freely until she's ready to stop. He takes this deal and makes it so that anyone who meets Addie will forget her. She exists - somehow thrives alongside suffering - this way for 300 years before meeting Henry, a man who remembers her.
Addie is my role model. Her will to survive, her ability to enjoy temporary moments of happiness, and her stoicism in the face of suffering show us a specific philosophy for how we can approach our lives. There are so many characters across so many books who've frustrated me with their reaction to hardship, but I never once stopped admiring Addie. I understood and respected her decisions, even the bad ones. I loved her reaction to good things. People who endure trauma often struggle to accept happiness and love into their lives for fear of risking more pain when it leaves. Addie frequently states, “She knew that it would end, it always ends eventually, but she would enjoy it while it was here.” She matches the gods with her determination and her vigor for life.
“But isn't it wonderful... to be an idea?”“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.'“
I just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E Schwab and here is my review.
On her wedding day, Addie is desperate to escape. It's 1714 and the young french bride to be makes a deal with the devil as is given a beautiful yet cursed gift. She will live forever but no one will ever remember her.
Some days are harder than others but most Addie has made some wonderful memories. The sadness at never being remembered by the people she cannot forget is a heavy burden to carry. She finds small ways to cheat the system, leaving small marks in the world of art.
Her life continues for nearly 300 years this way until the day she tries to steal a book from a bookstore and the young man who runs after her remembers her name... In that moment everything changed.
This book was magnificent. This book was on my wishlist for years and I don't know why I waited so long. This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions and the end.... GAHHHHH!!! I just can't!
The desperation Addie felt that she managed to bring Luc to grant her a twisted version of her deepest desire. You don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore. I couldn't imagine being forgotten the moment I walked away from a person. This book is a slow burn of heartbreak.
I loved the character development and the wonderful world that was built over 300 years. The loneliness was so tangible I felt my heart shatter over and over again. The magical realism was done so well and I loved every single moment. I don't usually like books that don't have an HEA but this book was perfection. Addie is my kind of MC and I loved her perspective all the way through.
5 stars
My Thoughts: The writing of the book was commendable. However, the narrative's frequent shifts across various timelines occasionally disrupted the flow and coherence of the plot. While at times these transitions were clearly indicated, at other instances they were not, leading to moments of confusion. Among the characters, Luc emerged as particularly intriguing. In contrast, I found Addie, the main character, to lack significant development, making her character arc somewhat unsatisfying. Henry's character was even less appealing to me; his personality neither evolved nor seemed to align with the overall tone of the book. The plot itself was initially captivating but lost momentum due to the stagnant development of the characters. While the book was a decent read overall, I couldn't quite connect with the characters as I had hoped. 3.5 rounded to 4
Wow! I never should have doubted this book would be phenomenal! Why I didn't read it before after listening the praise repeatedly is a mystery!
New favorite!
Wow! I never should have doubted this book would be phenomenal! Why I didn't read it before after listening the praise repeatedly is a mystery!
New favorite!
Oh my goodness! This book is an amazing work of art!
It's so...perfect. This book is perfect. Sure, it starts out a little slow, but it picks up steam reaaal fast.
I couldn't stop reading near the end, when Addie's relationship with Luc is explored. Made me sprint-read to the end in one sitting from there.
Maybe the only thing I would call less than perfect about this book is the way it ends. Not gonna spoil, but I basically think that Addie underestimates Luc at the end.
That aside, I absolutely love this book! No regrets reading this! It was so emotional and perfect and sad and boy did it sap the FEELS out of me. In a good way, though. Glad I read the ebook version, because my tears would have ruined the pages.
3.5 ⭐️
for the most part i really enjoyed this, but i felt like the pacing was off at times. i liked addie and i liked henry, although luc often felt a little one-dimensional. i probably wouldn't have picked this up if my local book club hadn't chosen it, so i'm glad they did! if this had been pared down a bit and given a slightly different ending, i think it could have been five stars.
I'd read this before a couple of years ago, but listened to it on audiobook this time around and it was SO GOOD. The writing, the narration, the story were all just beautiful.
Loved the writing, got me to keep reading. Was looking forward to seeing her involvement in historical events but those events were only referenced briefly. Felt very eurocentric, Addie wanted to explore the world but she only explored Europe and the US. Mixed feelings about the ending...
Was fun to read but not worth rereading for me.
Beautifully written. Dances a hard line of feeling sincere without being cliché and has wonderful allegories of what it means to live vs be alive especially in the ways we love.
Such an fascinating story and beautifully written! The way the plot weaves itself together is worth the read. Don't want to give anything away, but I wonder if you will you love Henry as much as I did?
Interesting idea for a story but I wanted more than a YA love triangle, especially one that was among three such lightweight characters.
It was basically very readable, the plot was entertaining enough for me to want to see how it would end for Addie one way or the other. In the midpoint when we meet Henry, I was curious about him until his secret was discovered. Those things kept me going.
One aspect that could have been explored in a meaningful way was the reasons for Addie's initial bargain. For her freedom and immortality, she trades the idea of being remembered by others. When she's out of their sight, she's out of their minds.
What she's avoided is the idea of growth and change, of growing up and taking responsibility. She wants to stay a child, exploring and dreaming. Part of responsibility is affecting people and living with the consequences for better or worse. Young people in her time didn't get the same opportunity to be teenagers and students that privileged kids in the 20th-21st century get.
Schwab doesn't dive deep into the potential danger of Addie's life or the meaning of a life without responsibility. Instead, Addie feels cheated out of lasting romance and prevented from making a mark on the world as an artist. These are certainly things she's lost but these are romantic and superficial notions. I would have liked to have seen some chapters that were mini-stories in which Addie really had to struggle and suffer.
I fervently wish that the devil or darkness character had had more menace and been a lot more fun. I do not see what he and Addie see in each other Also, Henry's reason for making a deal with the devil was dull and not believable. Everyone gets dumped, dude.
This is an enormously popular book and many mentioned the beautiful language as a reason for liking it. I found the prose to be a bit much. Schwab uses figurative language to the degree that it stops being evocative and gets in the way of telling the story. She also overuses incomplete sentences as a way of creating emphasis.
It's a bit like poetry rather than a traditional style. In a way, I get why people would like it. It might be my own failing since I'm not a big poetry lover.
This book is by far better than A Darker Shade of Magic. I throughly enjoyed this but I thought it was a bit long winded and was happy it was over.
The story follows Addie who wants to get out of a betrothal so she prays to a “god” and he gives her deal that ends with him having her soul, but of course nothing goes the way she wants and she has to go though life with nobody remembering who she is...until someone does.
3.75 ⭐️ I think this is a really unique premise, I think it gets more hype than deserved, I think I enjoyed reading it, and I think I probably would not have picked it up if it wasn't the book club choice. Something is preventing me from a full 4 stars but I can't figure out what?????
"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?"
"¿Qué es una persona, si no las marcas que deja atrás?"
I can't think of much to say about this book. I only know it was a wonderful experience, just like everything else I've read from V.E. Schwab.
No puedo pensar en mucho que decir sobre este libro. Sólo sé que fue una magnífica experiencia, como todo lo que he leído de V.E. Schwab.
The story of Adeline, reborn (in a way) as Addie, and how she discovered what truly matters in life, left me speechless.
La historia de Adeline, renacida (de cierta manera) como Addie, y cómo descubrió lo que realmente es importante en la vida, me dejó sin palabras.
This book touches on themes like what it means to be really free, the relevance of art, the fact that everything comes with a price, and essence of being human.
Este libro toca temas como lo que significa ser realmente libre, la relevancia del arte, el hecho de que todo tiene un precio y la escencia de ser humano.
I can't recommend this enough.
No puedo recomendarlo lo suficiente.
If you like a good story of learning and resilience, read it. If you like tales of gods, deals and curses, read it. If you like books that transport you and make you feel everything, read it.
Si te gusta una buena historia de aprendizaje y resilencia, léelo. Si te gustan los relatos de dioses, tratos y maldiciones, léelo. Si te gustan los libros que te transportan y te hacen sentir todo, léelo.
“My name is Addie LaRue. I was born in Villon in the year 1691, my parents were Jean and Marthe, and we lived in a stone house just beyond an old yew tree...”
“Mi nombre es Addie LaRue. Nací en Villon en el año 1691, mis padres eran Jean y Marthe, y vivíamos en una casa de piedra un poco más allá de un viejo árbol de tejo...”
Honestly, did not like this book that much...
Great start, but when Addie meets Henry, everything became so predictable and unsurprising. Also, for the fact that Addie is 300 years old, she is so unaware of her social surroundings. Which is weird in her case. Really missing the amazing links that could have been made with the huge changes in history throughout those years.
Such a great book. It's been a week since I finished and I'm still thinking about it.
Did I read it until the end? Yes
Did I enjoyed it? Yes
Did the constant repetitions (star freckles must have been mentioned 100 times) bothered me? Yes
I found the idea behind this exciting. I ve read it in 2 days and enjoyed the plot and the characters. But to me, it felt unedited and a bit rushed. The constant repetitions were tiring and at a point I wanted to throw my tablet out of the window. Some stories where left untold and unfinished and even the ending, although I liked it, seemed a little bit rushed.
Read it, it really worths your time, but don't expect that this will leave you breathless.
Never pray to those who answer in the dark.
Forced into marriage, on the day of her wedding Addie prays to anyone who will hear her desperate cries. When the darkness offers Addie a bargain, the life she wants for her soul, Addie sees no other choice. But the moment words of agreement are whispered, Addie’s life irrevocably changes. She may be immortal and free to live as she chooses, but she will never be remembered again.
The years are not kind to Addie as she learns the world is a dangerous place for women. And until she grasps the full capabilities of her extended life, she will struggle to survive. V.E. Schwab’s prose captures such a profound sense of loneliness and emotionally connects Addie to the reader. Over the course of three centuries, Addie will share with readers her journey from victim to survivor. Through the ups and downs of both past and present, Addie must endure the mental struggle of forever being alone. Forgotten by all except the one who caused it all.
The darkness is always near, waiting to catch Addie at her weakest moment. The fierce and complex moments between Addie and her dark stranger up the tension and keep the reader engaged. There is a sense of both attraction and repulsion, oftentimes blending and causing a confusing mix of emotions for Addie. And when she finally finds someone who remembers her aside from the darkness, a thrill will course through the reader as Addie is forced to reevaluate everything she has done in her life. The doubt and fear readers endure as she cautiously explores the impossible with someone who remembers her are heartbreaking.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is as haunting as it is beautiful. Each century is brought to vivid life for the reader through Addie's experiences. And the audiobook is fantastic as the narrator takes into account which century Addie is in and how her French accent changes over time. Addie’s life is painted in such an unforgettable way despite the character herself being forgotten at every turn. I highly recommended this book to those who enjoy historical fantasy novels and darker mental themes.
Originally posted at www.behindthepages.org.