Ponder: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by fantasy author V.E. Schwab ©2020 took me by surprise since I do not consider myself a fan of fantasy fiction; but I enjoyed it immensely and rate it five stars.

The basic storyline is that a twenty-three year old Adeline in 1714 France wants desperately to have adventures and see the world beyond her tiny provincial town of Villon. She has longed to do so even since her child hood days when she was allowed to accompany her father to the exciting market three times a year. Her desperation to leave reaches a climax when she is forced into a wedding with a widower with three children. Her family is Catholic but an elderly village woman in the woods prays to other gods, arousing Adeline's curiosity and her hopes for a means of escape. Addie is so intent on another life for herself that she enters a bargain for her soul. Who does she bargains with... the devil, the dark, a monster, a god? Whoever or whatever can take various forms to relate to her. She tells it "I want a chance to live, I want to be free. ... I want more time" "Then take my life when I am done with it. You can have my soul when I don't want it anymore."

The twist in the bargain is that although Addie may live "forever" with a body that does not age, no one can remember her once she leaves their sight. Addie can remember everything though, and relishes those memories. She wanders through life into the far reaches of the world, alone, but still unwilling to give up her life and her soul, no matter how difficult it is within the constraints of the bargain. She enters a random Paris book store in 2014, three hundred years later, and a clerk her similar age, Henry, can recall her. Finally she has a connection with a being other than the one with whom she made that dark bargain. This book is told by switching around between years and locations; but it was written in such a manner I was content to see the past revealed to the future gradually.

Often books with time travel have internal inconsistencies that cannot be resolved. Although not time travel, the author has done a excellent job of finding feasible workarounds to Addie's imposed fantastical limitations. How can you get a job if no one remembers you? How can you rent a room for the night if the landlord views you as a squatter the following day? How can you buy what you need with no money? Addie's coping mechanisms were resourceful, clever, and plausible. I found the reviews on the back of the hardcover book jacket to be extremely accurate although, admittedly, that is not always the case.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue made me ponder how much of our lives we yearn for learning new ideas, seeing amazing sights, feeling awakening sensations, and forming deep relationships. Don't we all want to be remembered and leave our mark on the world in some way, be it by accomplishments or imprints on someone's memory? I highly recommend The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It is long and involved enough that it cannot be whisked through in one sitting. But I never wanted to. I savored each and every page of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

★★★★★ Great! Read it!