Recent Reads: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 
Publisher: Tor Books 
Publication Date:  October 6, 2020

 

Format: Hardback, Physical Copy
Source: Bought as an Add-On from Book of the Month

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

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.

Review: 

This book has been on my to read pile for far too long. I have heard all the love for it and I enjoy Schwab's writing so I finally picked it up. I took my time reading it over the course of about a month and I adored this book.

Addie LaRue is about a woman that makes a deal with the dark and is cursed to live forever but no one will remember her, until one day there is someone that does. The story is told not only from different point of view but also merges the past and present, retelling Addie's life through the centuries building up to the present. 

I found this book to be poignant, lingering, and in a way ...wispy. It was beautufully composed and morally grey at times and it was wonderful. Schwab created a book without a big climax/ conflict instead focusing on passing relationships and falashbacks, all Addie' encounters and snippets of her time here on earth. The love/relationships/ regret/ saddness of this story is overwhelming and I think that will sit with me for years to come and not many books can say that. 

While reading this book, it felt just like Addie, like a fog through your fingertips, wispy and flighty but with purpose.