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

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Author: V. E. Schwab

Pages: 442

Finished: November 19, 2020

First Sentence: A girl is running for her life.

Summary: France, 1714. Adeline LaRue wants to see far of places, live many experiences. Addie LaRue does not want to get married and end up stuck in her small village for the rest of her life. So, desperate on the night of her wedding, Addie makes a deal with a god. A deal that grants her immortality at the price of everyone forgetting her the minute they lose sight of her. It turns out it's much harder to get by when no one remembers you. And that's how things are for Addie for 300 years until one day, someone does remember her.

Thoughts: So this is kind of the "it" book going around right now. As I was reading it, a coworker discussed it for our staff reviews, two friends posted about it on Facebook, and patrons brought it up. And to be honest, it's a pretty interesting book. Of course, any book regarding deals for souls and life or art invoke Faust, and of course this book couldn't escape mentioning that. But I still really enjoyed it.

I appreciate that the main character, Addie, isn't infallible nor is she unlikeable. It seems that often when people write Strong Women, they are good at every skill, strong as a man, accomplished in most things, and friends with everyone. Or they go the opposite direction and are unsociable in a way that makes them hard to identify with. Addie feels like a regular person.. which is all we want in our Strong Women characters. Take note authors!

I went back and forth on Henry. When we first met him, I was intrigued as to who this guy was. Like Addie, he felt desperate enough to make a deal. But even so, I didn't connect to him as well as I did to Addie. 

Our other main player is Luc the not-devil. The god after dark. I appreciated that he was more complex than just evil... but he still was the antagonist and I don't like antagonists, no matter how much back story we get into them.

One of my favorite aspects of the entire work was how Addie showed up in art. I liked the idea of the forgettable woman showing up in art all over the ages. It was such an interesting concept. 

Honestly, even with this being the "it" book of the season, I really enjoyed it. It was the right level of fantasy grounded in realism. The characters felt real even in their wild lives. I feel like I could take another pass at it and slow down in the last 100 pages or so rather than busting through them at midnight... but this is a problem I have with all books I read that I enjoy. Definitely a worthwhile read.