A timeless tale of immortality in “The Invisible Life of Addie Larue”

Addie Larue is cursed. She is destined to live forever, fated to be forgotten by everyone she encounters. But then she meets Henry. Despite her curse, he remembers her. But the devil is cunning. Time is running out and Addie must outwit him.

V.E. Schwab veered slightly away from the magical world of the “Shades of Magic” series. That is not to say that “The Invisible Life of Addie Larue” has no magic in it. In her new novel, Schwab created a character living in the real world setting, but in this case, she’s got to live forever.

“You have ruined the one thing I still had.”
“How sad, that you had only dreams.”

Addie Larue is a girl from an obscure French town who made a deal with the devil in 1714. She got to live forever but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Like Matt Haig’s “How to Stop Time,” Larue is destined to live history, witnessing the passing of time. This book, as expected, has full of wisdom from a character who’s got to live for centuries and has seen the best and worst of people.

“She has lived too long and lost too much, and what little she’s had has been borrowed or stolen, never kept to herself…”

“The Invisible Life of Addie Larue” is set like the usual novel with real people and places. With the touch of Schwab’s signature writing, everything turns mystical. There are twists, turns, and intrigues that would keep the readers’ interest from page to page.

I like that the focus, in the end, was not really on Larue, but also on the other character Henry. She meets this guy who accidentally remembers her and could speak her name. The details on how the devil manipulated the two to fall for each other so that they could break them, are expected but makes the book a page-turner. As is the slow build-up from Larue’s joy of having found someone who remembers her, to the reveal that Henry himself is cursed, too.  

“It is easy to be honest when there are no wrong words, because the words don’t stick. When whatever you say belongs to only you.
But Henry is different, he hears her, he remembers, and suddenly every word is full of weight, honesty such a heavy thing.”

Geek Rate

(Sun god Worthy. 4 out of 5 stars). There are no elaborate magical rules here which V.E. Schwab sometimes incorporates into her stories. It’s fortunate because it did not weigh down the book’s story. “The Invisible Life of Addie Larue” discusses the subject of immortality like countless books out there. But it has an exceptional plot, and the ending is as heartbreaking and expectedly unexpected.

Reignell Francisco

I’m a content creator with passion for travel, history, football, and anything on TV. Visit my YouTube channel onelostgeek for my travel stories. Business inquiry: geekgodreview@yahoo.com