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A review by boezaaah
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
4.0
4.5 stars
"Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out. And I think you are glad of it. I think that's why you've come, because you are lonely, too."
Before anything else, I am so thankful to have been gifted with a copy of the ARC. If you're reading this, I love you.
I'm a big fan of V. E. Schwab and the 4 books I've read by her. That being said, I haven't read all of her books, and some I've liked more than others. But I think I can say with full confidence that The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is by far her most well written book. You can definitely tell that Addie LaRue is Schwab's baby. There is so much love and care put into this story and these characters, it feels almost wrong to be reading something that feels so personal to Schwab.
Not everyone is going to love this. It's slow, and drawn out across over 500 pages, but that's definitely part of the magic behind it. I read this across the span of two weeks and I'm so glad I didn't rush through it. Schwab gives you time to get fully invested in these characters and transported into Addie's world. I loved how slow this was. At times I wondered where the story was going, because it can feel like there's almost no purpose to the story. But by the end I totally understood the choices Schwab made and I ended up loving what she did.
There was SO much LGBTQ+ representation in this story. It's never written definitively on page the sexualities of our main characters, but both Addie and Henry explore partners of different genders and it's never discussed as if it's out of the ordinary, which I adored. I didn't expect anything less from Schwab, she always delivers in this department.
If you go in expecting a stereotypical ’love story’ between Addie LaRue and ‘the devil’, you’re not going to find it. What this is is a more nuanced love story. A back and forth that spans centuries. Addie sold her soul for immortality and the devil (more commonly referred to as the Darkness, or ‘Luc’) is longing for her to give it up. This story follows Addie as she goes through lovers and lifetimes, and evades the Darkness. He desperately wants her to grow tired of being being forgotten and to finally give him what he wants. But Addie is strong, and she's not easily persuaded. I guess you could call this story a love triangle of sorts, but it's nowhere near as annoying as other types of love triangles I've read. Schwab does something incredible with these characters, and all of their feelings towards each other is so much more than just 'love'.
One thing I really wish we got with this is more exploration with the non-Western world. This is a very Eurocentric and American story, with Addie travelling through places like France, Italy and Germany, but never in her 300 years travelling to any other parts of the world (at least not on page). I think Schwab could have made this more expansive with this, and it would have done the book so much justice.
I also wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, it was super bittersweet and kind of corny, but I think it worked well for the story and it ties things nicely together for Henry and Addie, while not so much for Addie and Luc. I usually like ambiguous sorts of endings, but in this case I would have liked an explosive ending. I think that would have worked nicely.
I think longtime fans of V. E. Schwab will fall in love with this. I think new fans of Schwab will be ready to jump into her back-catalogue. I loved this so much, and I'm so excited for other people to read this too.
"Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out. And I think you are glad of it. I think that's why you've come, because you are lonely, too."
Before anything else, I am so thankful to have been gifted with a copy of the ARC. If you're reading this, I love you.
I'm a big fan of V. E. Schwab and the 4 books I've read by her. That being said, I haven't read all of her books, and some I've liked more than others. But I think I can say with full confidence that The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is by far her most well written book. You can definitely tell that Addie LaRue is Schwab's baby. There is so much love and care put into this story and these characters, it feels almost wrong to be reading something that feels so personal to Schwab.
Not everyone is going to love this. It's slow, and drawn out across over 500 pages, but that's definitely part of the magic behind it. I read this across the span of two weeks and I'm so glad I didn't rush through it. Schwab gives you time to get fully invested in these characters and transported into Addie's world. I loved how slow this was. At times I wondered where the story was going, because it can feel like there's almost no purpose to the story. But by the end I totally understood the choices Schwab made and I ended up loving what she did.
There was SO much LGBTQ+ representation in this story. It's never written definitively on page the sexualities of our main characters, but both Addie and Henry explore partners of different genders and it's never discussed as if it's out of the ordinary, which I adored. I didn't expect anything less from Schwab, she always delivers in this department.
If you go in expecting a stereotypical ’love story’ between Addie LaRue and ‘the devil’, you’re not going to find it. What this is is a more nuanced love story. A back and forth that spans centuries. Addie sold her soul for immortality and the devil (more commonly referred to as the Darkness, or ‘Luc’) is longing for her to give it up. This story follows Addie as she goes through lovers and lifetimes, and evades the Darkness. He desperately wants her to grow tired of being being forgotten and to finally give him what he wants. But Addie is strong, and she's not easily persuaded. I guess you could call this story a love triangle of sorts, but it's nowhere near as annoying as other types of love triangles I've read. Schwab does something incredible with these characters, and all of their feelings towards each other is so much more than just 'love'.
One thing I really wish we got with this is more exploration with the non-Western world. This is a very Eurocentric and American story, with Addie travelling through places like France, Italy and Germany, but never in her 300 years travelling to any other parts of the world (at least not on page). I think Schwab could have made this more expansive with this, and it would have done the book so much justice.
I also wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, it was super bittersweet and kind of corny, but I think it worked well for the story and it ties things nicely together for Henry and Addie, while not so much for Addie and Luc. I usually like ambiguous sorts of endings, but in this case I would have liked an explosive ending. I think that would have worked nicely.
I think longtime fans of V. E. Schwab will fall in love with this. I think new fans of Schwab will be ready to jump into her back-catalogue. I loved this so much, and I'm so excited for other people to read this too.