The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | V. E. Schwab | Fantasy | 2020
When I picked this book for my Book of the Month choice, it sounded like it was a sure winner. I usually do some checking on Good Reads to see what people rated books and they were gushing about this one. Unfortunately, this was not a book for me.
This is the story of a girl from the late 1600s who lives in a small village in France. She longs to see the world and have an adventure but instead is having to marry a widower and settle down as wife and mother to his small children. She feels this is the end of life for her. She gets advice from an old woman in town that she could pray to the old gods to help her. She is warned to not ask a god after dark. So, on the day of the wedding, Addie runs away and begs the gods for mercy. The evening comes and a mysterious person comes and grants her wish with a provision. He tells her she will be free but no one will ever remember her. Soon you realize that she has made a pact with the Devil.
Addie finds that it is almost impossible to lead much of a life if no one remembers you. She spins in circles and leads a pretty pitiful life but refuses to give in. Eventually the timeline switches to 2014 in New York. Addie has learned how to survive and has picked up a lot of experiences, knowledge, and survival tactics. One day she steals a book from a bookshop and when she returns it, the bookshop owner remembers her. This is new and Addie has to figure this situation out and what it means.
About halfway through this book, I wanted to quit. But if I buy I book, I usually try and finish it. The writing is very lovely and some interesting scenes do happen. However, it was repetitive and a little boring to me. There was not a lot of hope and happiness to be had in this book. I kept hoping that she would figure out how to overcome and do better things. Maybe even change the world. Yes, I like to hope in my reading. The ending did not make up for anything either. So even though the writing is good, this story was not for me. Lots of people are loving this book and so give it a try!
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