[Book Review] The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

 

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

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.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the writing is marvelous. It's flowy, beautiful and almost lyrical. On the other hand, the plot missed the mark for me. Because of the lyrical quality of the writing I did enjoy reading (actually listening, as I listened to this through the audiobook), but I was disappointed in the actual story. 

Parts of the book dragged on for me. It almost became monotonous at points. I felt like all Addie did was go on and on about how slow her life was, which made the story itself feel slow. I found myself wanting to get through the 1700 chapters faster than the 2014 chapters. When something significant would happen in 2014, the next chapter was always in the 1700s. Maybe that was why I just wanted to get through her past as fast as possible. I was intrigued by her romance with Luc. I was less than impressed with her romance with Henry. It felt dull and forced. They just didn't have any natural chemistry to me. 

I went into this book loving the concept of being invisible, and how this could really affect ones life. The concept is genius, the story was just okay. She left her mark with a series of pieces of art, even though she was invisible, and this was impressive in it's on right. But, as for the rest of her life story? It was just okay.

I am giving this book four stars, because it genuinely is a great book. But, I wanted it to go in a different direction than the one it did. So, I am personally disappointed. Does this mean this book deserves two stars? No. The book has a fantastic storyline premise, and the characters are well developed. The writing is lyrical and I really don't regret reading it. I am looking forward to the movie! 

*Sidenote: Team Luc anyone? 

Victoria “V.E.” Schwab is the #1 NYT, USA, and Indie bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and This Savage Song. Her work has received critical acclaim, been featured by EW and The New York Times, been translated into more than a dozen languages, and been optioned for TV and Film. The Independent calls her the “natural successor to Diana Wynne Jones” and touts her “enviable, almost Gaimanesque ability to switch between styles, genres, and tones.”

She is represented by Holly Root at Root Literary and Jon Cassir at CAA.