Addie Larue’s ghostly life by V. E. Schwab

If you have been on Instagram, Tik Tok, youtube or Goodreads in the past few months you might have seen The Invisible Life of Addie Larue being praised at. I can’t lie, the only reason I read this book was because I had to get back into the trends. This is a story of a girl that makes a deal with the devil, or a god, I am still not sure, and she becomes almost like a ghost, she never dies but no one remembers her. I have enjoyed this book, I won’t lie. However, I don’t think I would have read it if I hadn’t seen it everywhere and I do think it is overrated.

The story of the book is quite clever, I think that the main character is well written and I do enjoy Adeline. She is clever and interesting and she does bring light to the story. The devil is evil in his way and I do love how he has been written. I like that he is does have a sensitive side for Addie. Henry, the other main character does has a sense that I enjoy. I love that the writer focuses in his anxiety and depression however, I think his character is quite boring. His relationship background is basic and I didn’t enjoy the reasons he made the deal with the devil. It is a quite shallow and one sided view of what really is. His deal comes to be because he thinks people don’t like him because he is not enough and this reason, did not make me want to know about his background.

The theme of love is, of course, explored throughout the whole book. The love between Henry and Addie is robust and accurate. Sometimes it is left unclear whether she loves him or it just feels good to be remembered. The “love” (if we can call it that) between Luc and Addie is more passionate, and it takes time to be discovered, however, sometimes I feel like it does not make any sense.

I know this seems all negative, but I can’t lie, I cried. I do love the last few chapters of the book. I like the ending decision that Addie takes in other to safe Henry. I also really love the last few words Addie says in the book, where she tells us that she might not be like that forever because she is learning from the devil itself. This shows us that really Addie has grown and not in the way that most people would think. She is getting closer to a god form the dark rather than a human; what she wishes she would be. I love that there is almost an open ending letting the reader imagine how the rest of the story continues as always is forever. I mostly respected that the writer did not just kill Addie as I know other writers would have done.

The style of writing is attractive. The prose has many pauses, and it made everything feel like air, the words brushing through my eyes and the ideas entering slowly to my brain. She uses simple language, so it’s easy to understand and enjoyable enough to become addicted to the story.

I want to point out something that some might not agree with. Towards the second part of the book the story becomes repetitive. There a few chapters that I believe the story did not need, the ones with Luc throughout history. Some of them were nice to read but were so alike the last one. They all had the same line of though, Addie is in the middle of something, Luc comes and bothers her, they insult each other, do something, she thinks, thinks again, Luc leaves leaving a hole in Addie and Addie think more about him. The book could have been easily a few chapters short. I preferred the parts of the story that were set in the present rather than in the past but that is my own opinion.

The book is entertaining but it won’t be the first one I recommend when someone asks for one. If you enjoy fantasy it can be something that can be appreciate and get addicted on. I do think it is worth the read and enjoyable to those who get centered in the story rather than in the writing itself.