Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

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

61 reviews

zebedee123's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

TLDR; 4.5 rating rounded up, I love monkey’s paw wishes, I love queer women, and I’m not gonna lie this book almost had me crying.


Full review to come. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Rape, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

myleejmiller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It is not often I find myself without something to say after concluding a story written and published, or otherwise yet to be printed on paper. I have so many words to explain my absolute astonishment at this novel and what it entails, but not enough words to scribe my thoughts properly. Thinking of my own writing, I often consider the benefits of certain methods leading to literary excellence. This novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, made me question for the first time the benefit of writing a story in one popular way or the other, quieter way. One method, in which the author focuses on the plot, and the characters, and weaves a story of epic wonder and magic that makes you jump out of your seat while reading to evoke exclamations. Or, alternatively, a story which provokes such deep reflection and thought while and after reviewing it, that it changes lives due to its outstanding lean towards overarching theme and moral tension. Both, I feel are outstanding in their own ways. However, one provokes excitement while the other provokes memory. And unlike the thousands of books I've read over the years, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was merely the second book, and the absolutely better book, to ever channel tears from my eyes. The characters are exquisite in their anguish, the story is profound and encompassing in its bluntness. The world within it is deep and vivid and real, so much so that it makes for an un-put-downable standalone from start to finish. It is life-changing. Though it does have it faults, as every story (even with five star ratings) does, it is a book I am not likely to forget. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue paints the pictures of life so brutally real and in such vivid color that it is both memorable and provoking, long after its completion. V.E. Schwab, and her writing of this masterpiece, tells me that she is an author of deep thought and even deeper meaning. I cannot wait to dive into her future and past works, and let these alongside other stories like hers better my own perspective on reality, and also my writing of real and fictional worlds.

I could say so much more, and explain how much a story like this means to a person (of many flaws) like me, but I will simply end with this: Thank you. Thanks to V.E Schwab, the book itself, the agent who took it on, the publisher who printed it, and the readers who praised it so highly. You have made, altogether, an unforgettable tale of change, hope, and devastation. Thank you, from a reader who is just beginning to understand the impact a story can have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

kaziaroo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked the beginning, and the very end, but the middle not so much. While it's not my usual kind of book, and I have no patience for this kind of "lyrical prose" and over-romanticisation of everything, I was intrigued by Addie's situation and the bitter sadness of her not being remembered by everything. I struggled with some of the plausibility of it; that she would really be so desperate to avoid a quiet, comfortable marriage that she would make a deal with a strange eldritch being, and that she would never stray beyond Western Europe and the USA in her 300 years. Her relationship with the demon that cursed her was interesting, and so were the ways in which she learned to cope with and manoeuvre within her curse. I did find it tedious reading about her endless one-sided one-night stands, but I was willing to push through that. 

But then Henry appeared. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd just skipped Henry's chapters. The story would have mostly made sense without them and I would have those hours of my life back. Although I related to some of his struggles with choosing his career path and specialism, and his situation is also sad, Henry's chapters were just boring. He mopes around all day and whenever he feels a little worse he just downs a mixture of drugs with gay abandon and no consequences the next day. His and Addie's "love" was totally unconvincing; compared to the other lovers we see her meet, Henry is by far the most dull and she only likes him so much because he remembers her. She becomes the only interesting thing about him.

I wish the book had either explored the world and history a bit more or been a couple of hundred pages shorter. I had no interest in watching Addie and Henry having nice days out and going to endless bars and clubs, or sleeping with everyone they meet. The flowery writing desperately tried to make me fall in love with the characters and settings, but it was all style over substance. My overall feeling about this book is disappointment after the hype.

I would recommend this to fans of Matt Haig's "How to Stop Time" and who want nice, deep-sounding quotes to put in their Instagram captions.

TL;DR: it was well executed for what it was but the writing was flowery, the male lead boring, the female lead unadventurous, and there was too much sex, drugs and rock & roll for my tastes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

rose_k's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Suicide attempt, and War

espressoreader's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

It started off with so much promise and then got stuck with everyone having sex with everyone.  I got bored around half way through and it never recovered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

A girl in a book club I'm in told me this was her favorite book and that she cried when she met the author, and it finally pushed me to read a book I had been meaning to for a while. 

This was a beautiful read that made me feel many complicated feelings. Addie, as a character, was not the perfect heroine, she didn't always make you feel like she was doing the right thing, but her motivations were fleshed out, thought out, and clearly based in the character. She felt real. As a character, Henry was also thoughtfully written, although I wish his obvious lifelong depression had been called that because I think naming things takes some of their power, but still, his was a beautifully written tale. 

Together the two characters created this beautiful love story with Addie's 300-year-long invisible life that intertwined so well with the history around her. She wasn't the main character in the history, my pet peeve in anything historical, but was, instead, a piece of many parts of history on the sidelines. 

I loved the ending, I enjoyed that we didn't see Addie

beat Luc at his own game, instead, we have to hope that Addie will win

and get her final ending. Henry

writing the book, in the end, was so inventive, I always love a book inside a book plot.

 

This type of fantasy, especially women-led and woman-written fantasy, is always so wonderful, I only wish it wasn't reduced to tropes. I've seen this called a romance novel many times, and at the end of the day, it is many, it is everything, it is wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual content and War

Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, and Alcohol

amre23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, War, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Simply wow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Cancer

parfait52's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This book barely has a plot. It is almost entirely a character study that then adds an additional smaller character study later on. If the writing were not as effortless and beautiful as it is, I probably wouldn't have finished this book. It was kind of tedious to read through over 400 pages of exposition and flashbacks and ponderings. The plot points that do exist are all very predictable and played out, so there wasn't really anything there to tantalize or excite. And I also can't exactly tell if this banal disappointment betrayed the book's themes or exemplified them. The characters were all fairly interesting and likeable and real (within the setting), with Henry being a personal highlight for me.

If you enjoy reading gorgeous, languid writing that feels almost burdensome at times, with some insightful peeks into the mind of an unfortunate soul, this is the book for you. If you enjoy a clear plot with characters that are revealed through actions instead of long ramblings, this is not the book for you. Ultimately, I am glad that I read this book but I probably wouldn't want to do it again. Kind of like life itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury