Book reviews Fantasy

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

About the Book- The Invisible life of Addie LaRue

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

I fear I would have slipped into my own grave if it would have been a slight bit longer. I would have been the real-life Addie La Rue, forgotten by the world because I had lost myself in this never-ending book

Read on for our review of the book

Our Review of The Invisible life of Addie LaRue

This book had got its hook on me right from the beginning but eventually, it loosened and got untethered. I don’t know why, but the curse of Addie La Rue sounded more and more appealing to me. The irony is that the book was trying to show us how bad it is when no one remembers you but all the book did was, to convince me more and more about what a blessing that would be. Yeah I know I am creepy that way. Anyways, the book simply floored me as soon as I started reading it. I was hooked, excited and completely taken with the book and then it started getting a bit tiring and heavy and eventually it came to a point that I fear I would have slipped into my own grave if it would have been a slight bit longer. I would have been the real-life Addie La Rue, forgotten by the world because I had lost myself in this never-ending book

Imagine your parents are taking you on a Disney land trip. A trip that you have been begging ever since you were able to put two words together. You are so excited that you are cleaning out every candy store on your way, munching on every type of candies. In your excitement, you have stuffed yourself with so many candies, that now it is coming out of both your ends, Both, mouth and your backside. So by the time you reach Disney land, you are sick from all the front and rear end throw-ups that getting on a ride is the last thing you want to do. So now even though you are at this magical place, with all the cool stuff, you hardly have any energy left. My experience with reading this book was exactly like that. I was so sure that this book was going to be a hall of Famer for me.

I had even my poetry pen out to write poems in praise for the book but by the time I finished the book, I could barely open my eyes and had to use the same pen to poke myself to make sure my blood hasn’t dried up.

The basic trouble with the book is that it is dealing with too many things. The book is trying to combine a trilogy worth of plot into one book. I felt as if I had just finished an entire series rather than one book. It could easily have been treated slowly, simply and by breaking it parts by part. That should have worked or it should have considered itself going under a ruthless chopping block. The book would have indeed got a magical makeover if it had considered letting go of a lot of stuff unnecessarily making it so bulky and heavy.

It was so good till it reached the middle and from there on, I felt as if the book was adding two pages for every page I was reading. There are so many things stuffed into one single book. There are intricate historical tours and kaleidoscopes. There are poetry, proses and divine truth. There is a satirical approach to our society. There are life lessons. There are character studies and their backstories. Then there is of course the plot itself. 

When we talk about the plot, there is a plot inside a plot, inside another plot. Though not bad as inception, it still is a roller coaster for the brain. That is why I hate the book because this book was my dream book. It would have been even next to twilight and Harry Potter for me if it hadn’t exhausted itself with too much stuff. The first half was magical, it was fast, dark, enthralling and keeping me curious and turning pages. Then I realised I have been turning pages for quite a while and it’s nowhere near its end. Do you know what is even worst? Every time I wanted to throw the book at someone, it would come up with such a twist that I would go back to the book again. This book had me dancing on my toes like the dancing plague of 1518 (yup I just googled it 😜 )

Conclusion

The Invisible life of LaRue was so massive that I am still feeling a bit feverish from such an exhaustive read. This book needed more chopping and more visits to the discard bin because it just piled up so many things that it completely overpowered a beautiful and glorious story. The book tired me with its long journey so much that by the time the actual story showed up I was tired and barely had my brain in function mode. To make it worst, the one thing that I was interested in knowing was given the least importance. Addie and the dark. The one thing that I wanted more was just concluded in two freaking pages….bravo !! Bravo !! 😡

😪Irrespective of everything I said, I still have a little corner in my heart for this book

Also, Is it me? or the book did plant the word palimpsest in our brain? I can’t get that word out of my head

Squirrel Rating

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