The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

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

I may not have made a deal with the darkness so that I could live forever like Addie LaRue, but I made it through 2020 and felt like I lived through a century of isolation.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue stretches over three hundred years, from the 1700s to 2014. Schwab uses Addie's wish to live forever to remind us that life is meant to be cherished. The story made me think of Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It is one of my all-time favorites and also follows a character through a long magical life. Admittedly, that may be where the similarities end, but it was a fun connection for me. While Jitterbug Perfume feels like a playful rollick, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue feels like a crossover of literature and fairy tale, and of romance and fantasy. Robbins entertains with language like it's a game. Schwab offers language as poetry and lyric.

From the beginning, we are warned. "The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in storm…never pray to the gods that answer after dark." So, we are ready when Adeline makes her desperate plea just before sunset, ready for the dark to encroach on her prayer, and prepared for the answer to come at a price.

Addie's gift of life and time costs her the ability to leave a mark in the world. She cannot be remembered. When she walks out of a room, no one remembers that she was there. She can't write or paint or say her name. She learns to walk "the edges of her curse like a lion in its cage."

Addie learns that she can leave behind an idea, pose for an artist, plant a melody in a musician's mind. And when she looks back across history, she can see her influence subtly reflected in a painting at the National Gallery, a sketch, a pop song. "I'm in love with a girl I've never met...And I'm so afraid, afraid that I'll forget her, even though I've only met her in my dreams."

The god that answered after dark, The Darkness, whether he is a god or a monster, follows Addie. At times trying to trick her into relinquishing her soul, but sometimes rescuing her or warning her of danger. He is the only one who remembers her, so the only one who knows her, and the only one who can say her name. The only relationship she can have. Stalking her through time. He becomes the epic bad boy fixation.

Schwab gives the idea of forever a fresh take, switching between Addie's early years in France to modern-day New York. The book is delivered in short scenes, almost snapshots of moments, and moves us back and forth through the centuries, never letting the thread drop.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is infused with magic, art, history, love, and beautiful language. All of these combine to make an enjoyable read and a wonderful escape from these dark times.