The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
442 pages

What’s it about?
Addie is 23 years-old and lives in a small village in France in 1714. She longs for a bigger life but she is destined to marry, work, and die in this same small village. "Her future will rush by the same as her past, only worse, because there will be no freedom, only a marriage bed and a deathbed and perhaps a childbed between, and when she dies it will be as though she never lived." On the eve of her wedding to a local widower she panics and runs away. Not realizing that it has turned dark she prays to the old Gods. A mysterious handsome stranger appears and makes a bargain with Addie. She will have freedom but he gets her soul when she no longer wants to live. Too late she realizes the cost of the bargain. She will live as she pleases, but no one will remember her.
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What did it make me think about?
Be careful what you ask for! So this novel was part fantasy, part romance, part historical fiction and engrossing to the last page. "A story is an idea, wild as weed, springing up wherever it is planted." Who doesn't love a good story?

Should I read it?
Yes. This novel is for anyone who wants to suspend belief for a little while. Not sure how to categorize it, but I do recommend it.

Quote-
"I gave you what you asked for, Adeline. Time, without constraint. Life without restriction."
"You cursed me to be forgotten"
"You asked for freedom. There is no greater freedom than that. You can move through the world unhindered. Untethered. Unbound."

If you liked this try-
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Golem and the Jinni by Helena Wecker
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
The Enchanted by Rene Denfield

The book kept me coming back for more - so I must have liked it. But somehow it was such a slug. Incredibly repetitive, almost monotonous at times. It is well written- just a bit boring at times. Also, it may be a personal preference, but I can’t totally relate to the characters who were somewhat hipster-ey and really into strange art installations. I understand the book was about art and the ability to leave your mark, but there were times it just felt a little forced.

DNF @ 28%. I usually read 100 pages of a book in 2 hours. This took me 2 days to get through, and I had to TRUDGE. I was so bored, and didn’t feel connected to Addie at all. The beginning pulled me in but after that it was all downhill. It was just redundancy. I didn’t care about Henry, either. I don’t get the hype at all.

A lovely taste of magical realism, a pleasant yet potent love story. It is, however, predictable from start to finish, despite the author’s fresh perspective on old ideas and tropes.

I did not like this book at all, as I found it very difficult to care about the characters. There was so little backstory on Addie and Henry that I could never figure out why they made the wishes they did.