The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 5/5 cats
life is very long when you’re lonely.
i’m not really into romance or romantic fantasy, but it’s not so much a genre-aversion as it is a preference for a different conflict-and-resolution pattern than characters finding love and being happy. i like my stakes a little higher.* BUT, two of my all-time favorite books are Wuthering Heights and Jude the Obscure, so gimmie a book about a doomed romance or whose characters are tragic n’ hopeless, and i’m yer tragedy-mosquito, drawn to the despair, and THIS drop-everything-else chonk of a novel contains not one but several tragic n’ hopeless romantic liaisons in the very long life of addie larue.
the very long part of her life starts in 1714 when she’s 23 years old and living in a tiny village in france. after years of successfully dodging suitors, our adeline is about to be married off to a recent widower and yoked to an unwanted life of babies and housework, seeing nothing, being nothing.
desperate to avoid this fate, she appeals once more to the ancient powers she believes have kept her happily unwed for all these years; through her prayers and small offerings. and, yes, she has been warned:
“The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price…And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”
on this occasion, she mistimes her request, making a deal with the wrong god, and trades her soul for a chance to live a life on her own terms, belonging to no one but herself.
and while she does indeed get what she asks for:
”I want a chance to live. I want to be free…I want more time.”
and while she does indeed think herself very clever for giving him the “payment due” date he demands without really committing to a timeframe:
”Then take my life when I am done with it. You can have my soul when I don’t want it anymore.”
she nonetheless underestimates the whole slippery nature of powerful immortals and the monkey’s paw fine print that’s always underpinning their dealmaking, so YES, addie will neither age nor die; he’ll grant her a life as long as she still wants it, BUT he’ll make it much less wantable. YES, she will be free and she will not belong to anyone, BUT she also won’t be remembered by anyone—a stranger to her family and friends, forgotten by new acquaintances the moment she is out of sight.
additionally, nothing of “her” will last; she’s unable to leave any mark at all, which includes writing, being photographed, keeping or moving objects around (although there’s some latitude there—i’m not fully clear on all of the exceptions View Spoiler »)
this curse has numerous everyday consequences, and i am DEEPLY ENAMORED with v.e. schwab for addressing so many of them, because most authors would just focus on the juicy emotional/interpersonal obstacles without considering how it complicates practical matters like food/clothing/shelter/travel, which are FURTHER complicated in the early years by gender, where a woman had less freedom to be on her own, and all of the scenes of addie acclimating to the rules of her new life, figuring out what she can and cannot do (e.g.—dining out alone is impossible when the waitstaff forgets not only your order, but that you are even there, on their way to the kitchen) are some my favorite in the book, and also the most quietly heartbreaking.
and yes, there are plenty of juicy emotional/interpersonal obstacles: awkward dinner parties and even more awkward morning-after scenarios as her partners wake up next to a woman they’ve never seen before. addie’s romantic life becomes some kind of mashup between About Last Night(ellipsis) and Groundhog Day, having to introduce herself over and over again to people who have been—to her—long-term lovers while she skims through their perception; from stranger to lover to forgotten over and over.
and goddamn, that’s a lonely life, reduced to a shadow, a thief, a fragment of a dream, It hurts too much, watching them forget her.
but addie is stubborn and still hungry for life and adventure and she is not going to give up that soul of hers just because no one remembers her.
and then, after three hundred years alone, she meets a boy who does.
and her life gets better and harder and sadder.
and i loved it. i loooooooved it.
this mosquito is sated.
ALSO: i thought this was meant to be a standalone, but that ending is a little slithery. if this is the end-end, i think it is absolutely perfect as written. however…it opens a door, and it’s a door i would not hesitate to walk through if invited.
*which sounds snarky and i do not mean it to be. i just skew a little darker and prefer “deeply haunted” to “happily ever after.”
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ME (rosy with bourbon, surrounded by my plush truefriends): “this book is BIG!!
EARLIER THAT EVENING:
v.e. schwab is a woman of dynamic sleeves and elegant bowing, glowing from within. a good time was had by all, and everyone purelled.
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