The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Review

The question of this book is, what do you want to do with your life? What if you have an infinite amount of time? And what might the tradeoff be to have that time? Adeline LaRue is born in the late 17th century of rural France. She loves her parents and learns from them as she grows up, but she doesn’t want to follow the path for women in her village of young marriage, children, and hard manual labor for the rest of her short life. And as people in a modern world, I think most people can agree that it doesn’t seem like an ideal life. Well, Adeline makes it all the way to 22 being single before being forced to get married for the good of the village. And instead of taking it nicely, she runs. Having been taught some less-chistian ways of praying from a neighbor woman, she cries out to anyone-god or man-who will help her avoid this fate. Then her prayer is answered-by the devil. He grants her long life, but in exchange wipes her from the memory of everyone. From her family to friends in town to strangers who look away from her for more than a moment, she is no one. She’s also 22, uneducated, and unskilled in most forms of labor. She craves food and still sleeps but doesn’t need food to survive.

So what would you do? You now have freedom from the things that tie you to life, but you still need some of the necessities of life, like food, clothing, and shelter. But you can’t get a job because no one would remember hiring you. You can’t rent a room when the landlord forgets you in half an hour or less. Which brings us to the part of the story that I find most distasteful. Thinking it through over days while I read the story and afterward though I don’t know that it isn’t what would have to happen. And since you’ve already sold your soul, what’s the worst that can happen? So Adeline, now Addy, becomes a thief. She becomes a prostitute when necessary to get a few coins. She lives in abandoned buildings sometimes, and other times she’ll sneak into palaces to stay the night if the occupants are away. And she lives. For centuries. Leaving her mark on the world when she can through falling in love with artists of various types. 

In NYC 2014, life has changed considerably from what it was. Addie has several apartments that she knows the occupants well enough (having met them for the first time several weeks in a row) to have access to shelter in many parts of the city. Dressing rooms make it easy for her to steal clothes; she goes in to try on and then walks out with new clothes. She can read a dozen languages and loves ‘borrowing’ books from different shops. Until one day, someone tries to stop her from taking the book! Even though she had been out of his sight for almost a minute! What a shock for Addie! Enter Henry. He’s washed out of everything he’s tried to do in life and for now is just stuck running the secondhand bookshop. And he remembers Addie. Almost immediately they’re inseparable and Henry gets out all her secrets and history and writes them down for her (since she can leave no physical mark behind herself). The story jumps back and forth in the timeline (though dates above the chapters help keep it all sorted out) and the contrast between what Addie’s life is like before Henry and after it is amazing. Before Henry the only person who remembers her is Luc, her devil that comes to visit on each anniversary of her deal. And in turn, Addie has a great influence on Henry as well, helping him to be more confident in himself helps get through the hard things in his past while giving ideas for the future. And no, that’s not the end, but to get more you have to read it yourself!!

I really loved this book. The story was beautifully told and all the different time periods were fun. The way Addie and Henry came together and were able to help each other be more complete was amazing. I’m glad that those two found each other. I love the bittersweet nature of the ending and how nicely it wraps up. I like how it’s always moving, but there isn’t a ton of direct confrontation or fighting in the book. However, I have a hard time recommending this one. It’s got quite a lot of sex, though it’s not usually detailed. It has a lot of theft, because she thinks that’s what she has to do for survival. And as a religious person I have a hard time condoneing that just as a general rule. But still, I really really enjoyed this story and really, you might too. It was a great read for the week of Valentine’s Day, that’s for sure.