The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars rounded up**
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.
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 the entire way through.
There were times I had to set it down and step away.
I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions in those moments. It’s all 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.
She flounders for years, trying to determine how best to live.
It is a struggle. Her only connection, the dark being who granted her wish, Luc.
These scenes of Addie grappling with how to survive, were hard to read. In fact, they were some of the most melancholy scenes I have ever read.
It was gripping and beautiful and painful, all at the same time. The writing was able to elicit such empathy for her 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.
Intricately weaving together both past and present timelines, Schwab sweeps you away in a love story centuries in the making.
There’s love, sacrifice and tasty bites of food for thought the entire way through.
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.
It felt like a love story 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.
