Synopsis

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.

Review

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

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Ugh. Loved the concept but I’m sad that it was so boring and slow for me. Really a snooze, having spent so much time on a book that ended with such little yield. I didn’t enjoy this one for many reasons.

Readers looking for a fantasy escape, with a dual timeline, willing to give something a try that covers a lot of concepts about growing up and unconventional relationships may enjoy this one more than I did. Those who enjoy a lot of description in their reads will likely find it more compelling as well.

I listened via audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan who was good. I loved her French pronunciation. I was fond of her calling out voice, the higher pitches of her voice, felt those registers brought out the characters more. Or perhaps a much needed awakening back to the story.

So sadly, to my surprise, overall this book was just tedious over uninteresting matter. I thought I was going to love this book because the concept explored in the storyline was incredibly appealing; however, there was just not enough substance to make a complete and satisfying story. The characters and plot had so much potential but felt dull to me. The details didn’t add a lot to the characters or the plot, in fact they often overshadowed them.

Grab a snack and beverage, this is probably going to be a long one. I’m being reminded and impassioned as I write this. Mostly just my notes lined out.

The Story
The progression was painfully slow.

Not enough pull or interest to keep me excited for the main story or the side stories, no desire to root for the main character and her hopes, never mind the sexual escapades and successive mentioning of freckles which felt were overemphasized, overdone, and I was over it at the third mention.

Repetitive scenarios.

I never really figured out what the main character wanted in life, this freedom described was without any real definition.

I supposed what it came down to was that our protagonist was never called to do something, I felt I completely missed the call to action, even after having restarted it twice.

The plot danced around action. I was hoping for an evoking battle scene. But without much supporting emotion, I felt disconnected and less invested in what was to come when responses came around.

A lot of density packed into one book for such little in return. Way longer of a book than I felt it needed to be.

The ending, all that plowing through and this is how it ended, no twist to quench my imagination?

Tone
Came off as trying to be deep when sometimes things aren’t that deep.

Desperate to be counter culture, just comes across as difficult and antagonistic, less relatable to me.

Doesn’t dive deep into emotional complexities and humanistic qualities such as mixed emotions, but rather too black and white for my taste.

This book stole my energy.

The Writing
I enjoyed the dual timeline as an idea and many aspects derived from that in parts sounded promising, though that amount of cumulative life experience didn’t add anything amazing or unique to the story as a whole like I’d hoped.

Detailed, not precise language, my most disappointing factor.

Pacing
Too slow for my taste.

Descriptions
The imagery was lost because of so much detail. Much like this and like that, simile that would have stood strong without the noting comparison.

The imagery started strong but then it was followed by an explanation, making it lackluster, losing the effect originally intended, more clarification and detail which drowned out the simplicity of words. Example, mention of Venn diagram, then explaining the circles overlap. The impact would have been so much more without a supporting description in my opinion.

The Characters
Main character was dry and portrayed as what I felt was too idealistic. It was hard to know what she valued. More oppositional to being a wife and having children which would have made a less traditional path on life for the time/setting, but lacked any compelling notion because the definition of freedom and having a life her own was never defined and never truly developed aside from the vague statements.

I’m finding myself favoring more straightforward description and more subtleness in the message and delivery these days, I may look forward to checking out another story sometime in the future.

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