The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
Hello Books Lovers,
today as you can see from the title of the article, I’m talking about another fantasy book to be released tomorrow, again for Oscar Mondadori. A book that ever since it was announced has made sparks all over the world, including Italy, and a few months after its American release here it is, The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab.
I’m completing the reading now and I don’t know what to say. This book has had its ups and downs, but the story itself is phenomenal. The originality and development make us understand a lot about this book and this world-wide-known author. After all, one could not expect less from a person who has signed a book deal, or a series, now I don’t remember exactly, for a million dollars.
Addie LaRue is a girl born in 1700 in France, but she has always felt out of place. Life in those times has always been very tight to her, too many restrictions and too many duties that the woman had to perform without a minimum of freedom. Because all Addie wanted was just that, the freedom, which she eventually got at a great price, her soul.
It all begins when at 12 she no longer has permission to travel with her father, it is from there that the chains as she defines them begin to tighten her arms and legs. From here her mother only gives her orders including, at 30, when she is far enough away, to get married, wether she liked it or not. But for years she had begun to pray to the gods before sunset to help her as Estele, an old woman, had taught her.
They helped her from time to time, but Estele’s recommendation was: don’t pray after dark. The time comes when she is about to get married, and she runs away, and as alwayss he begins to pray without noticing that it is getting dark. She breaks the only rule she was given, gets help but at a high price. She can live forever, that’s what happens, but no one will remember her anymore, and even though she shows up, without ever using her real name, no one will remember her for more than a limited amount of time.
The chapters are divided between those set in the past and those set in the present, 2006, 2014 … 300 years always living the same way, a monotony that drives Addie crazy. She can’t even die, so to get some freedom she literally gave up everything, condemning herself.
I never expected to find Addie LaRue’s Invisible Life so addictive, after all it’s nice to see how, despite Addie’s difficulties, she manages to be successful in the end. Over the years, she has never lost hope that one day she would be remembered by someone. She has traveled the world without ever finding happiness, and perhaps this teaches us to be careful what we wish for, because as fair as it may seem, everything could turn into a nightmare without being able to go back to change things.
This is just one of the morals in this book, but what I’m wondering is if the author added them intentionally or not, it would be nice to know. All in all I give a 4- to this book, out of 5, I would say that it had enough, what do you think? And let me know if you are going to read it, I recommend it.
