V.E. Schwab
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Released: October 6, 2020
Pages: 440
Publisher: Tor Books
Overall: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting & World-building: 5/5
Emotional Investment: 5/5
"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind."
I truly think I just read the most beautifully written book in the world. I don't think I can look at the world the same ever again.
Quick Summary: France, 1714: A young French woman by the name of Adeline LaRue who wants nothing more than to see the world, strikes a futile bargain with a god to live forever but never remembered. Through the course of 300 years, Addie has seen empires fall, and worlds rewrote while merely existing as a ghost unable to leave her mark on the Earth, that is until one day a boy in a bookstore remembers her.
I'm trying to think of where I should start with this review and I seriously don't know. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book about humanity, and what it means to live. It's almost philosophical in that sense. It orbits around Addie, who wants to see the world and gain knowledge and leave the confines of her small village. She strikes a bargain with Luc, a god of the dark. I have a small infatuation with Luc, but that is totally fine.
"Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives-- or to find strength in a very long one."
So right away I noticed the plot is very character-driven without much active plot. It relies on a lot of flashbacks and inner thoughts of Addie reflecting her love of artists. Because of this, the first 150 pages were very slow for me, but then when more of the history between her and Luc, and then her and Henry picked up it made the book more interesting. I personally loved the art that Addie influenced at the beginning of every part. The continuing symbolism of her seven freckles littered through these artworks told almost as much of a story as the actual book. I wish we could see more of her inspiring artists. The few examples we got were beautiful but as Addie's character is written around her need to leave a mark and unable to do so, I would think she would go around being a muse a lot.
Henry probably has the coolest job in the world. A bookstore owner, hire me asap. He had so much trauma and depth to his life. When you first meet him he just seems like an open honest, weirdly awkward boy but his backstory describes a lot of pain, and his misuse of drugs from such a young age brought me so much pain. I don't know how I feel about Henry and Addie together. Like it was beautiful in the sense they got each other the best, but I missed a lot of the tension. They were also very insta-love but I mean that was kind of the point so I didn't hate it. Henry on his own was a character I would actually like to be friends with (like what kind of guy would do what he did with the name of the book at the end) but he and Addie didn't have the pizzazz I wanted.
"Time always ends a second before you're ready.
That life is the minutes you want minus one."
Now, Luc, he's crazy. This man doesn't understand the difference between love and possession which is why he was crazy. That doesn't mean I don't like him. I think he also grew alongside Addie in their three hundred long game, but he never could articulate that growth very well. Also, I think Luc was more in love with the idea of having someone than having Addie. These all made him a very poor contender for Addie, but I just liked them better (oops). He has a crazy green eye thing going and she had her "I can understand his crazy green eye" thing going and it kind of seemed perfect. Which in the book Addie states is why she and Luc could never work, because she wanted something real not perfect.
"Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end, everyone wants to be remembered."
Now finally Addie was the toughest, strongest woman ever. She had to live through everyone forgetting her and going through life alone. I would kind of go crazy if I was that alone. Her only true companion for a long time was Luc, and she hated him (as she should). So she spent all her time trying to survive and inspire artists and sculptors so she could leave her mark. It all kind of seemed so lonely and sad that my heart broke for her.
I do want to preface this really isn't a love triangle. Like there are clear emotions that Addie states that will make sure nobody thinks there is a love triangle. Especially that entire ending. Miss girl, has learned something in the past three hundred years, and she's about to trick the devil. Go her, honestly. I kind of want to know how it continues and plays out, but the mystery of it provided a much better ending. Now I didn't cry and a lot of people said I would so strange. Anywho, I hope you go read this book because it might teach you a thing or two of what it means to be alive and live every second like your last.
Quotes
"Never pray to the gods that answer after dark."
"Stories are a way to preserve one's self. To be remembered. And to forget."
"A successful theft is an anonymous act. The absence of a mark."
"It is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing to be forgotten."
"Ideas are much wilder than memories."
"How can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered?"
"Nervous, like tomorrow is a word for things that have not happened yet. A word for futures, when for so long all she's had are presents."
"In wanting to live, to learn, to find yourself, you've gotten lost."
"Addie LaRue is immortal and Henry Strauss is damned."
"Everyone thinks photography is truth, but it's just a very convincing lie."
"Lying is its own language, like the language of seasons, or gestures, or the shade of Luc's eyes."