Book review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Scwab

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Autor: V.E. Schwab

Description:

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.

RATING: 5 / 5 stars

This description fits the story so well, because this is truly a story you will never foret.

This book has been so popular these days and you’ve all probably already heard of it. But as soon as I read the description I simply knew I must read it. And I’m so glad I did because this has become one of my favorite books ever.

It tells a story of a young girl Addie LaRue, born in France in 17th century, who, to escape the weddin she doesn’t want, sells her soul to the devil. She is granted an eternal life, but… there is a catch. She is forgotten by everyone she meets. So she lives her eventful but invisible life until, after 300 years, a boy remebers her.

I don’t know what genre to put this in because this is everyting and nothinh all together. It has elements of fantasy and magical realism with bits of romance in it but to me tis feels like philosophical fiction. It had me asking myself all kinds of questions, like: What would I do if I lived forever? What would I do if no one remembered me? Is it truly a curse or a gift?

Art might be the most important thing discussed in this book. We meet Addie, an art lover and a free spirit, whose ability to create gets stolen (because everything about her is forgotten) but she realizes how strong ideas are. And so she becomes a muse for many famous paintings, books and even music. Everyone knows her but no one remembers. Deja vu. Deja su. Deja vecu. (Already seen. Already known. Already lived). She becomes a mystery woman with seven freckles scattered across her cheek. Like a constellation.

It all changes when she meets Henry. After 300 years, he is the only one that remembers. And Addie finally doesn’t feels as lonely as before. But when she realized he also sold his soul to te devil she is willing to do anything to protect him. Including bargaining with the devil himself.

The devil, who is actually not a devil but the god after dark, is handsome and dark, a spitting image of a person Addie drew and once loved. By makin Addie’s life miserable he wants to capture Addie’s soul. But Addie is stubborn so she doesn’t give it up, slowly realizing that even if she lived for a century, it wouldn’t be enough for her. She is witty and although Luc is stronger and more powerful, she wraps him around her finger. And in the end, no matter when that might be, she will win and he will lose. I love how even though the book didn’t end how I imagined it would, te author made us imagine what might happen after and still gave us some hope.

This book is not ordinary at all, it is so interesting and unique. From the storytelling, plot, double perspective and everything else, it is unlikely anything I’ve read before. The feeling you get after reading it is so weird, like you’ve just read something that changed your life.

All the stories from Addie’s life are so interesting, some happier and some sadder. But all the events made Addie who she is and even after everything she’s been through she would still do it all again.

This author definitely did something amazing here and she changed my perspective on life and art simply by creating a single book. Although the theme might seem weird and to some morally unacceptable I think this book is such a masterpiece and people of all ages should read it.

To finish off this review I will share a quote from the book that I simply loved and I think we should all live by it:

“Do you know how you live three thousand years?” she says. And when he asks how, she smiles. “The same way you live one. A second at a time.”

Happy reading!