Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Seven freckles. One for every love she’d have, that’s what Estele had said, when the girl was still young. One for every life she’d lead. One for every god watching over her. Now, they mock her, those seven marks. Promises. Lies. She’s had no loves, she’s lived no lives, she’s met no gods, and now she is out of time.

Addie LaRue is a story about making deals with the devil. A story about living forever. A story about living a life where no one seems to see you for you or to pay you any mind.

It’s a fascinating premise, further strengthened by the story’s structure. It jumps around somewhat from time to time, place to place, even eventually character to character. It’s chaotic and often something I don’t care for, but in this, it really works. We know how the story begins, we know how it ends (or at least the beginning of the end), and the rest of the story is filling in the rest, narrowing in on the rules of the world, what happened, and what’s going to happen next.

For better or for worse though, the premise actually manages to take backseat to the snippets of the world and for a while, little seems to actually happen. Despite having hundreds of years to live, Addie never seems to change much. Perhaps it’s part of her spell? She never quite manages to ‘feel’ immortal. Henry is weird and winy, which in the end I totally get, but it takes a while to get there. Luc… I actually really liked the character of Luc. Despite being the least ‘human’, I think he actually grows and changes the most throughout the store.

It’s not a book killer by any means. I actually like the ‘slice of life’ feel in a much less ordinary world, but I definitely can see how it could be rather polarizing.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it. Well worth the read.

I remember you.