Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

2.9/5 ⭐️

This story has a lot of elements that I usually enjoy; Faustian deals, gods/demons, immortality, art. Unfortunately the execution fell flat for me - the nature of Addie’s curse reduces her to an eternal muse, going from lover to lover. And while it’s part of the story that she can’t make a her own mark on the world it became repetitive and boring to read about.

It seems like other readers took this novel to be profound, but the ideas and themes never went as deep as I would have liked for a 400+ page story that spans 300 years.

There's something very millennial, 'we make our own meaning' going on in this book and it's disappointing that there's no real consideration to alternate points of view.

What's the point of introducing the concept of old gods (PLURAL) if there's only one dark entity? What's the point of both POV characters being raised in two tradition based faiths (Catholicism and Judaism, with Henry actually considering studying theology at one point) if this has very little impact on their understanding of the world or their curses? What's the point of Addie being mentored by Estelle if she ultimately abandons witchiness when she leaves her village?

I wanted more interplay between old gods, Judeo-Christian faiths, and magic.

And, because this is set in 2014 Brooklyn, a lot of the contemporary date scenes have a millennial hipster tweeness to them. All the supporting characters are artists or creatives and they are quirked up to DEATH. I hate that I'm criticizing this (I'm an artist) but I found them to be cliched.

I admit that there are a lot of beautifully constructed sentences in this book, but unfortunately for me it was a case of style over substance. I do think that there is an audience for this book (duh, it's beloved by many) and that I am just not it. I considered rounding up my score to 3 stars but it didn't feel reflective of how little connection I felt to the story.

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ajoanaverde's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

debstrain's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is 541 pages of linguistic ASMR 😍

I’m not sure if it’s just a stark contrast from some of the popular ‘booktok’ reads I’ve persevered with recently but this book is written so beautifully and thoughtfully.

I just felt a warm fuzz the entire time I reading this (see some spoiler-free examples of this fuzziness below)

“Something always holds her back. Today, it is the storm that's rolling in. It hovers out over the sea, bruising the sky.”

“they would have been friends. (…) they were, in that first-night-of-the-rest-of-our-lives kind of way.”

Although it did take me a little while to get started on this and took longer than usual to finish, I loved how everything tied together in the end. Super steady chill book with clever links throughout 🥰

Will deffo be picking up another V.E.Schwab in the near future!

Content Warnings