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A review by goodverbsonly
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
2.0
Oh I have several complaints, lol.
1. This book is so obviously self indulgent in a not very subtle way. I am just exhausted by the number of books that are about Bookshops and Quirky Girls Who Like Art and Tea and Fancy Dinners and to have Fun Sex and Fall in Love. It's not that Addie lacks any personality, it's just that I would say 80% of her personality is about falling in love and being independent and Finding Cozy Corners of the World and Experiencing Life and it all just feels a little hollow to me. It took me until like the 80% mark to realize that this was my biggest gripe with the book, when it's usually the very first thing I hone in on though.
2. Addie doesn't grow. Arguably, Addie isn't the main character and Henry does grow(!) but Addie doesn't learn anything really valuable from when we meet her in 2014 and when we leave her in 2015. Sure she's different from the girl she was in 1714 but not so much. I don't know, I feel like maybe she DID make a bad deal and that it would have been interesting for her to actually reflect on that. Henry made a bad deal and he got to reflect on it and grow from it. But Addie ran away, and from what? She never really asks herself what she's running from and her relationship with Luc doesn't change so SHE doesn't change, and it's just bizarre. I know it might not have had the same kind of wide-spread commercial success if Addie's relationship with the Devil turned out to be NOT antagonistic in the end, but I also think it would have been better.
3. This also doesn't require an extensive rewrite and instead requires the book to end 20 pages earlier. It isn't massively too long the way I find a lot of books. In fact it probably could have been longer in the middle parts and I would have even enjoyed maybe more time with her in the past than with her stupid 29 year old perpetual undergrad bookseller boyfriend, who I have obviously mixed opinions about, but a) it did sort of get a little grating because there's no momentum to the book until the 90% mark and that makes it sort of a slog to get through all the scenery chewing a b) I don't care that we have 20 pages to the publishing of Addie Larue, like is this not a work of adult fiction? Assume we are intelligent enough to get it, get that Addie's ending is sort of ambiguous but that Henry, who has been taking down her story and left with the command to Not Forget and WORKS IN A BOOKSHOP sells Addie's story. And then we are left with maybe a protagonist who is markedly different than the 23 year old who made a deal with the devil for her own comfort and sacrificed that for someone who still had a chance for a real life, instead of someone who is STILL trying to antagonize the devil.
4. Henry's kind of annoying and he'd be less annoying if he was a little bit younger than he is. I just feel like if you're 28 and you're still like: Life is Meaningless and I am Lost and Mentally Ill but your solution is to take illicit pills your sister gave you when you have a family who could help you if you earnestly asked for it, you are the problem here dumbass.
Yes I gave it 3 stars because in spite of all of that, especially the scenery chewing, it still kind of worked. I have concluded that it's just not the book for me. OH well.
1. This book is so obviously self indulgent in a not very subtle way. I am just exhausted by the number of books that are about Bookshops and Quirky Girls Who Like Art and Tea and Fancy Dinners and to have Fun Sex and Fall in Love. It's not that Addie lacks any personality, it's just that I would say 80% of her personality is about falling in love and being independent and Finding Cozy Corners of the World and Experiencing Life and it all just feels a little hollow to me. It took me until like the 80% mark to realize that this was my biggest gripe with the book, when it's usually the very first thing I hone in on though.
2. Addie doesn't grow. Arguably, Addie isn't the main character and Henry does grow(!) but Addie doesn't learn anything really valuable from when we meet her in 2014 and when we leave her in 2015. Sure she's different from the girl she was in 1714 but not so much. I don't know, I feel like maybe she DID make a bad deal and that it would have been interesting for her to actually reflect on that. Henry made a bad deal and he got to reflect on it and grow from it. But Addie ran away, and from what? She never really asks herself what she's running from and her relationship with Luc doesn't change so SHE doesn't change, and it's just bizarre. I know it might not have had the same kind of wide-spread commercial success if Addie's relationship with the Devil turned out to be NOT antagonistic in the end, but I also think it would have been better.
3. This also doesn't require an extensive rewrite and instead requires the book to end 20 pages earlier. It isn't massively too long the way I find a lot of books. In fact it probably could have been longer in the middle parts and I would have even enjoyed maybe more time with her in the past than with her stupid 29 year old perpetual undergrad bookseller boyfriend, who I have obviously mixed opinions about, but a) it did sort of get a little grating because there's no momentum to the book until the 90% mark and that makes it sort of a slog to get through all the scenery chewing a b) I don't care that we have 20 pages to the publishing of Addie Larue, like is this not a work of adult fiction? Assume we are intelligent enough to get it, get that Addie's ending is sort of ambiguous but that Henry, who has been taking down her story and left with the command to Not Forget and WORKS IN A BOOKSHOP sells Addie's story. And then we are left with maybe a protagonist who is markedly different than the 23 year old who made a deal with the devil for her own comfort and sacrificed that for someone who still had a chance for a real life, instead of someone who is STILL trying to antagonize the devil.
4. Henry's kind of annoying and he'd be less annoying if he was a little bit younger than he is. I just feel like if you're 28 and you're still like: Life is Meaningless and I am Lost and Mentally Ill but your solution is to take illicit pills your sister gave you when you have a family who could help you if you earnestly asked for it, you are the problem here dumbass.
Yes I gave it 3 stars because in spite of all of that, especially the scenery chewing, it still kind of worked. I have concluded that it's just not the book for me. OH well.