The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab | Review

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Publisher: Tor Books (Macmillan Audio)
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Length: 448 pages (17 hrs. 10 min.)
Amazon

{A Bit of Backstory}

Single Sentence Summary

Addie makes a bargain to live a life of freedom, and 300 years later she’s still struggling with the deal she struck.

From the Publisher

“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…”

The Draw

• Completely outside of my usual comfort zone.
• October seemed like a perfect time for a little fantasy.
• French and NYC settings!

{My Thoughts}

Sometimes you get really lucky and find the perfect book at the perfect time and that’s exactly what happened when I picked up The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. I was hesitant to read this book because fantasy generally is not my thing, but I’d been rejecting book after book and was getting that desperate feeling serious readers beginning to slump know all too well. I thought to myself, “What do you have to lose? Nothing else is working?” From the very first chapter, I knew Addie was going to be a perfect book for me. I was so devoted to the story that two days later when I had to make a six-hour drive, I bought the audiobook because I couldn’t bear being without Addie’s story for that long. Narrator Julia Whalen was wonderful, as always.

So what IS The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue all about? Simply put, it’s the story of a French girl who in 1714 doesn’t want to follow the path dictated to girls at the time and so makes a deal with a dark force for her freedom. As one might expect, strings that Addie never imagined are attached to her deal and she spends decades living with and adjusting to her limitations. The book moves between Addie’s past and her interactions with the “darkness,” and her life 300 years later in NYC. There she finally meets someone who seems to be beyond the scope of the limitations placed on Addie’s soul.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue turned out to be far more than mere fantasy, also moving between historical fiction and a love story, this book had it ALL for me. Yes, I’m fully onboard the Addie bandwagon and am confident you’ll see her on my Best Books of 2020. I’m not a sequel reader, but I already long for more! Grade: A

“Being forgotten, she thinks is a bit like going mad. You begin to wonder what is real, if you are real. After all, how can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered? It’s like that Zen koan, the one about the tree falling in the woods.”

If you liked this book you might also enjoy:

• The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – A remarkable story of a man who inadvertently travels through time and the woman who loves him.
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – Two fantastical creatures meet and become great friends in early 1900’s NYC.