The Invisible Lie of Addie LaRue is a quiet story. There is no big bad, no true mystery, no epic battle between good and evil. It is simply the story of Addie LaRue and choices.
In 1714, Adeline LaRue made a deal with the devil on the day of her wedding. What follows is 300 years of being forgotten by everything and everyone she meets. And then one day, she is remembered. On that day, everything changed for Addie LaRue. But the devil is in the details, and soon Addie will find herself at the edge of her curse.
When I first finished Addie LaRue, I sat back with a deep sense of wonder. Schwab’s words had weaved their spell and left me starstruck. But as I sat with my thoughts over the next 24 hours, I came to realise that Addie LaRue was actually a bit lacking, particularly when it comes to its characters. While Schwab’s prose is as eloquent and beautiful as ever, there is an odd lack of character development that keeps The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue from really making an impact.
Let’s start with the big one: Luc, the “villain”. There was no depth to him at all. He simply serves to want Addie and engage in banter with her. And while that is fun, it is ultimately hollow. Luc is never compelling past his power and typical fantasy good looks. Then there is Addie LaRue herself. While she has more depth than Luc, she will still be a very divisive character for readers. Some will love her and the fight that lives in her soul. Others, myself included, won’t connect and will simply go along because it is her story we are reading after all.
Oddly enough, the most compelling character is Henry Strauss, the boy who remembers. Trying to deduce the plot twist that revolved around Henry is what keeps the middle of Addie LaRue going. And when you get there, again, you hit that divisive wall again. The choices that Addie and Henry make throughout the story are intriguing little looks into another’s way of thinking, but it is hard to not succumb to the internal critic and look down on the choices made.
Where Addie LaRue really shines is in the exploration of the world. Addie wanted to see the world, and we get to go along with her as she travels. The reader benefits from Schwab’s personal travels by experiencing the story as it bounces around from France in 1714 to Chicago in the late 1920s to New York in the mid 2010s. Schwab writes with such a sense of whimsical reality that everything feels like magic. You can feel the world beneath your feet as you read and there are few authors who can do that quite like Schwab.
While I spoke earlier of not being able to connect to the characters, there is something to be said about connecting to the story itself. Schwab’s writing draws out a sense of longing and desire. Addie LaRue is a wistful tale that settles in your bones and leaves you with a feeling you might not be able to name. This is where Schwab’s true talent makes itself known. Schwab is so damn good at imbuing emotion into every word she writes. And Addie LaRue is the most emotional book she has written to date.
There is a lot that can be examined and nitpicked in this novel, but at the end of the day, it was a good read. Addie LaRue isn’t perfect, but there is something about it that calls to be read, to be felt. Lack of character building aside, Addie LaRue sparks something internally as you read and what is the point of reading, if not to feel?
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
