The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

I am pleasantly surprised by this book. Around 25% through I thought it was slow and to be honest, boring. However, around 40% I became invested and by the end I couldn’t stop crying. Do not be deterred by the slow start. Keep reading. Addie is a dreamer. She was born during the early 1700s in a small French village and wanted more than anything to explore and truly live. She manages to escape marriage until she doesn’t. She runs away, prays to a dark god for help and they make a deal. Addie becomes immortal and invisible in every sense of the word besides its physicality. She’s meets the same people over and over again and none of them remember her until 300 years later when she meets Henry in NYC. The love story that unfolds is far from simple but it is magically wonderful. The author really does something special here exploring the nuances of time; the longest storms, the shortest days and the fleeting moments. Addie Larue is clever and reflective. I’m still lost in thought in the best kind of way.

This book was recommended to me by someone so I decided to give it a try after reading what it was about and it sounded interesting. It’s not in my typical genres that I enjoy but I am so glad I gave this a shot! SO GOOD! I usually only like romance or psychological thrillers. But this one really kept me engaged. I read 300 pages of it in the last 24 hours. So many tears were had. I loved it very much! And can’t quit thinking about it already!

• This is a fantastic book that I highly enjoyed, despite the author’s love affair with commas. So many commas. Seriously. (If you're missing a comma, it's probably in this book.) Unless the author was getting paid by the comma, she could remove many of the unnecessary ones (e.g., the ones mid-clause) and no one would notice. But that’s about the only bad thing I can say about this book (and yes, I recognize it’s petty). It is a great read the first time through, and I suspect it will be even better on subsequent reads. • The rhythm of the author’s prose might take a little while to get into, but I found it hypnotic and suggestive of a time long past. Although it’s not written in first person, this hypnotic style of repeated phrases, long sentences with lots of parallelism, and just spot-on descriptions made it FEEL like Addie LaRue was talking to me directly about her incredible life. The prose is so well written that it's almost poetry. • The story puts a unique twist on the old theme of a Faustian bargain. Reminiscent of the phrase “Be careful what you ask for,” Addie is forced to deal with the aftershocks of an agreement made in haste. Her anguish is palpable, her decline gut-wrenching, her desire to be remembered, insatiable. You will ACHE and FEEL so much for this character by the time the story is over. The tension between Addie and the antagonist (Luc) is so exquisite, that you’ll find yourself holding your breath when he shows up, wondering what torture is in store for our heroine. Luc’s barbs are sharp, but the retorts and sarcasm Addie throws back at him eventually become just as keen and cutting. You will plead for her to get back up off the mat, and cheer for her successes, the limited few she scores. I can’t say enough good things about the plot and the author’s captivating writing style. • Some reviews have complained about the scenes being too brief. I respectfully disagree and found that plot device necessary to move through the many years of Addie’s life. Otherwise, the book would have been 1000 pages long. The author gives us just enough color and substance to fill out the scene, makes her point (which is typically about the conflict between Addie and Luc), and then moves on. At times, it was a breathless read for me, the style allowing me to devour many chapters before I looked up and realized I was late for an appointment! • From a historical aspect, I also enjoyed the book very much. I personally enjoy historical novels, alternative history dramas, and time travel stories. This book was a little light on the historical details for my tastes, but what the author provided makes perfect sense when you think about it. After all, would you necessarily KNOW a person would become famous or which art piece would become worth millions of dollars if you were living as a CONTEMPORARY with that person or artist? No, you would not. Thus, it is so for Addie LaRue. • This is not a time-travel story with knowledge brought into the present from some time in the future. Instead, it is a wonderful story that explores the psychological weight of living much longer than others around you, and in Addie’s particular curse, how she maneuvers through many societies that will only ever interact with her on a purely superficial level. Like the classical character Sisyphus, Addie LaRue bears the weight of trying again and again, only to fail repeatedly… until she doesn’t. • Since my reading time is limited, there are very few books I would go back and re-read. This is one such book.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is a favorite of my more recent reads. Its premise has an original aspect, the protagonist Addie Larue is sympathetic, there are intriguing twists to the story, and the prose is excellent. The basic premise of this magical realism book is an old one. Addie Larue sells her soul to the Devil, or a devil, or an old god, or maybe simply a magical being. It never is clear. From this initial start, the story is all original.

Addie is a uniquely independent French girl, born 1691 in the provincial town of Villon-sur-Sarthe. She yearns for more than a life of bearing children and married subservience. She eludes that fate for some years, until it is decided she must be wed. On the wedding day she runs. About to be caught she meets a man, or an old god. She pleads with him, “I want a chance to live. I want to be free…I want more time.” He asks “How long?” She doesn’t know. He becomes frustrated, and explains that he deals in souls. He will wait for her soul, but not forever. She tells him, “…take my life when I am done with it. You can have my soul when I don’t want it anymore.” This is a deal the old god will do. Addie accepts, not realizing the old god has rigged the game in his favor. No one will ever remember Addie. She can knock on a door and have a conversation, but when the door closes and reopens, the person has no recollection of her. Even her mother and father don’t remember her being their daughter.

This would make life impossible for most people, but Addie persists and finds a way to manage over the years without going insane. She seems to be immortal. I found it fascinating how she forges a life for herself. Periodically the old god visits her, hoping to take her soul. Their changing relationship over the centuries is an interesting subplot of the book. Finally, in New York in the present, she meets a man who remembers her. That leads to the climax of the book, although not necessarily the end of Addie’s story. Or maybe it is the end of her story. I don’t want to spoil the finale for you.

Once I always finished a book once I started it. Now, I finish a minority of the books I start. I am a tough grader of books, but on a scale of one to five, I give this book a six.

I absolutely loved this book! It’s a 5 star to me because I can’t think of a single aspect of this book that I didn’t love. It was perfect. It was heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. I loved the characters even if I couldn’t relate to them at times. I feel like the twists were unexpected and this book had me hooked from the very beginning all the way until the end! I love Henry and I LOVE Addie even more. She’s incredibly strong and I felt like I could feel her pain and joy throughout this week. I was really taken along for the emotional ride that the characters in this book were on. I also enjoyed that you REALLY feel the underlying romance themes without it being so prevalent or including much spice. This book made me realize I may be a historical fiction fan.

Thank you V. E. Schwab for this book!!!!

I enjoy how the author encourages the reader to consider what it is that makes life worthwhile through the lens of Addie and the protagonist of death/the devil. What counts as a life well lived? What are we willing to sacrifice for it? Is there a way to live on our own terms and find that which makes our lives rich and allows ultimate freedom? How much does what society forces us to change who we are and what we are meant to be? Is there a way to love solely on our own terms? What is a successful life? The novel is thought-provoking, has several enlightening interactions with people/figures the reader will recognize and the interplay between Addie and death is an interesting (and well-played) game. It is well worth the time spent reading it and is rarely a slow read. It's not a beach read but not as heavy as a Jodi Picoult type novel. You have to put some thought it but it is not overly heavy.

Addie LaRue has lived 300 years after making said deal. The only downfall is no one remembers her. She leaves no mark on the world….But what if one day a boy remembers her.

I listened to this historical fantasy on audiobook. I’m glad that I did. The story is told in flashbacks to present day as we learn about what drove Addie to make a deal with the darkness and about the one boy who simply remembers the forgotten girl.

I enjoyed the hints of history throughout the book as well as Addie adapting to survive. The cat and mouse game with Luc aka the devil gives you the will they, won’t they vibes as Addie lives for decades. I liked Henry (the boy) but I thought Luc had better chemistry with Addie. I enjoyed the little twist in the book. It helped set up the ending and leaves you wondering to your own interpretation.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book and the contemplation/conversation that it inspired about a life worth living. That said... it's a little bit of a slow burn. I wasn't bored per se, but the book also isn't a major page-turner. I'd absolutely recommend it just knowing that it's a little slower. I was engaged and interested the whole time I was reading, but I also didn't find myself drawn into any extended reading sessions either. It was very much a "read a chapter or 2 then be done for a while" sorta read for me.

This story is not going to be for everyone. I think it is going to be a love it or hate it with little in between for most. I found it fascinating with the beautiful prose and interesting way that Addie came to see her life. I for the most part enjoyed this tale of a girl trapped at twenty-three with no way to leave a mark on the world and forgotten by anyone who meets her in the blink of an eye.

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

Adeline longed for adventure as a child. She begged her father to travel with him and see the other cities and was allowed to until she reached an age when she should be thinking of other things like being a wife and mother. But Addie wanted so much more than that. On the day of a wedding she never wanted Addie makes a deal with one of the gods after dark. The gods of the night are not kind and the one she made a deal with wants her soul.

“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.”

With a deal struck Addie will not age, she will feel pain but it will not stick, hunger but she will not waste away. Still the cruelty of it is that she cannot draw or write or do anything that might leave a mark on the word herself. She is forgotten by everyone around her and it will be just like that for three hundred years, until she meets a boy who says three words…I remember you.

This is much a character study more than anything else. We follow Addie in her life past and present to learn the full scope of her story. How she went from the child begging in the woods to the woman no one remembers. But Addie has found a way to leave her mark in songs, stories, drawings and paintings. She is the muse that is not remembered, not really but hinted at and almost captured in moments.

“The first mark she left upon the world, long before she knew the truth, that ideas are so much wilder than memories, that they long and look for ways of taking root”

The Dark has been her fickle companion through the years popping in to see if she is done with this life and ready to surrender her soul to him. Addie never falters, she never gives but he is the only one that remembers her and in her years alone she finds they are much the same. Let’s just say their relationship is complicated and full of history.

Henry, ah how I love our broken Henry. He is the first person in three-hundred years to see Addie and remember her. The only person that she can say her name to. Addie sees the real Henry too and it is something he hasn’t had for a while. I do love how broken yet sweet our Henry is.

“I see someone who cares,” she says slowly. “Perhaps too much. Who feels too much. I see someone lost, and hungry. The kind of person who feels like they’re wasting away in a world full of food, because they can’t decide what they want.”

Their love affair is sweet and doomed but all the best ones are.

Will this book be for you? That is a good question. I think the answer to that is if you are a more patient reader that loves to get lost in some great prose, interesting characters and don’t mind waiting for a story to slowly unfold, then certainly this could be for you. But if you are look for more things happening during the story then possibly not.

I have one and only one complaint for this and it is that I did want a little more time with Addie and the Dark together bantering and fighting throughout the years. Also, the ending may not sit well with everyone, but I thought it fitting. I think that it is how Addie feels at that moment but I remember the Dark is patient and will most likely change her mind down the road. Time for them is still vastly different.

“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.”

I really enjoyed my read of this book. It has a lot of things that really work for me in stories. The ending while not perfect, fit well the situation and made me think. I think the Dark is going to surprise Addie once again.

This is the 6th book I've read by the author and it's the only one I found disappointing. It was slow for about 2/3 of the book. The majority of the time there was no real conflict. The climax was anticlimactic, in my opinion. Just overall, there was no real excitement. I mostly kept reading in hopes something interesting would happen to make it worth the time I already invested.

For a book about an immortal girl who lived through centuries and danced with the devil, there is so much more that could have happened. Also, the character could have had more depth. If there is only 1 character for the majority, that one character has to be interesting. I see some people calling it a unique love story and it's not even that since she says she doesn't know if she really loved either of the other two.

Skip this one and go read Vicious and Vengeful or the Shade of Magic series.