Book Review:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The book follows the story of Adeline (Addie) LaRue who, at the age of 23 in the year 1714, makes a deal with the devil, wishing to have complete freedom and not belong to anyone. Estelle is a wise woman from Addie’s town, and someone she looks up to, who warns her against praying to the gods who only answer at night. However, unbeknownst to her, she prayed at night, bargained with Luc, and had to live the rest of her immortal life with the consequences of it. 

Schwab does such a beautiful job of creating characters that feel real to the reader, presenting addie as an extremely resilient girl who, despite the hand she has been dealt, continues to find new ways to live every day of her life to the fullest, refusing to give in to Luc’s demand on her soul, and see positives in getting to experience as much as she possibly wants. 

Though the book is written in the third person, Schwab builds such a compelling character, and we become completely immersed in her emotions and the intensely raw and human feelings at each point of the book. We see her attitude towards life slowly change as she relearns how to get by in a world in which she is consistently forgotten, toying with the limits of the spell in her stubbornness to show Luc that she doesn't need him. 

The introduction of Henry’s character threw me off as I was loving the jumps between Addie and her past, and felt that I didn't know enough about her yet to be thrown into another storyline. However, he became a very likeable character, almost like a security blanket over the story, bringing all of the pieces together. The mundanity of his life made him much more relatable than other characters, and I never bored of reading recounts of his day and his amiable nature that captured the hearts of everyone he met. Schwab’s characterisation of Henry is very nuanced and consistent throughout the book, and he holds a strange force that pulls you into the heart of the story. Though it is rather heartbreaking in nature, his motivations never falter, and he and Addie are proof that to be loved is to be known and choosing to lose aspects of who you are is a conditional and unfulfilling way to feel loved.

The book itself is written beautifully, structured in a way that couldn't possibly be better for the way in which the story unfolds, and the journey that slowly gets revealed to us. I found that I was constantly curious about what would happen next, unable to put the book down. However, there were some aspects of the story which I think were overly prolonged. I think a lot of the stories and moments of her past were somewhat overexplained. Often I was expecting relevant clarifications and felt instead like I was reading a filler chapter that didn't tell me much about her character and felt unnecessary to the plot. For example there was a reference to the french revolution, which made me think the story was going to go down a much more historical path, with Addie in the midst of a major war, however this lasted for about a page and was never mentioned again. It felt like more of a time stamp to show the various eras she experienced, but it had little to no relevance to the overall plot. I think that I would have rather seen more on her origin in France towards the start of the book, as the later chapters could have been condensed and still had the same impact. 

Maybe I'm being very nit-picky, because I truly enjoyed the book a lot and think that the last third was very well balanced and structured. The jumps between the present and her past felt more pertinent, giving us flashbacks to stories that Henry was learning about for the first time along with us. This made them feel more purposeful, holding much more emotional weight.

The book as a whole highlights the importance of making the most of life even when things change and aren't what you expected them to be. I think that Schwab keeps an immaculate and engaging pace, guiding the reader through the heavy emotional themes with ease, capturing the importance in not making unnecessary sacrifices, and making the most of life.