Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

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

27 reviews

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.

Content Warnings

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

kyra_johnson_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

There were points where it felt a little too slow and I was considering lowering the score, but the end finished it up with a nice and solid 5 stars. This book is clever and original. There were so many unpredictable parts to this book, which I feel is so hard to find nowadays. I loved the complete not knowing.

Content Warnings

drtx_bwt's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

throwback682's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense

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

5.0

I was so scared to finish this book. I almost quit because I couldn’t bear the idea of the sad ending I imagined.

Spoiler

I’m so glad that I stuck it out. The ending wasn’t what I expected at all (although some might see through it more easily) and it wasn’t happy but it was very satisfying. Henry’s last pages had me near tears.

I think the concept of the plot is really creative, and the author keeps track of a thousand little details of Addie’s curse that could’ve created a thousand plot holes.

At times it was predictable, but not in a way that spoiled my enjoyment.

Spoiler

I knew almost right away that Henry had also made a deal, but there were plenty of details I didn’t foresee, too.

This book made me want to savor every moment of life and love. It was entertaining but also thought provoking and heart-fire stoking.

Content Warnings

distel's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

raelinton's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective 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? No

2.5

I have never seen the word "perhaps" so many times in a single book. Took about 33% of the way through to get to a point, then didn't find its pace again until the end.

Content Warnings