In one of 2020’s buzziest new releases, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, novelist V.E. Schwab offers a modern take on the Faustian bargain, when the titular heroine disobeys advice to “Never pray to the gods that answer after dark.” Born in 1691 in a tiny village in France, Adeline LaRue quickly becomes disenchanted with the limited possibilities offered to her by life. As a child, she accompanies her woodworker father to a nearby city market, where she is enchanted by this glimpse of the hustle and bustle of the wider world. In a moment of desperation, the night before she is to be wedded to a dull widower, Addie prays to the “old gods” for her freedom. She is answered by a devilish figure, who appears to her as the ideal young man she had been drawing in her sketchbook, tall and slender with brown floppy curls. Addie begs him for her freedom, and the ability to belong to herself in exchange for her soul. The trickster devil (whom Addie laters names “Luc”) instead curses Addie to be forgotten instantly by everyone she meets, to lose possession of her name and the ability to form lasting relationships, while never aging and unable to die unless she surrenders to Luc.
300 years later, we meet Addie, a drifter in New York City, spending her evenings with all sorts of different characters, stealing to get by. Nothing in Addie’s life lasts for very long: she has no permanent home, no romantic relationships that last more than one night, and few possessions of her own. The novel rotates back and forth between Addie in the present day and her past adventures in cities across the world: France during World War II, New Orleans during the Jazz Age, and European salons where she brushes elbows with the likes of Voltaire and other thinkers; with intermittent visits from the fickle Luc, who is able to travel through space and time. While Addie’s curse has certainly made her life difficult, and the pain of being constantly forgotten has worn her down, it is clear Addie has lived a multi-century life full of adventures that she could never have imagined. Schwab writes about foreign cities with a poetic lyricism that beautifully captures Addie’s clear eyed curiosity at the world around her. This gorgeous novel contains some of the most singularly beautiful passages that I’ve read this year, full of flowery but never overblown descriptions of Addie’s intoxicating surroundings.
The novel becomes especially propulsive when Addie finally meets Henry, the first person in 300 years to remember her. Addie has no idea why this boy has the ability to remember her, and the two begin a passionate romance, both basking in each other’s charms. We get a bit of Henry’s backstory as well, he has struggled with depression and substance abuse, and like Addie, has not had much success in love. Addie carefully unravels Henry’s secrets, and learns more and more about Luc’s all-consuming presence in her life. The fantasy elements of the novel never feel trite, and Schwab expertly weaves in the story’s supernatural elements with grace into her larger narrative.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a transcendent meditation on history, memory, freedom, and love. Schwab has penned a sweeping narrative that somehow passes in the blink of an eye, but one that I don’t think readers will be forgetting any time soon. The characters are fully realized in stunning detail, and the novel manages to hold both mesmerizing magic and deep roots in human stories. This is a fantasy novels for readers of literary fiction, one which manages to fully transcend any discussion of genre or audience. The novels darkly romantic and gothic elements provide fascinating atmosphere for the riveting narrative arc that reaches an incredible and bold conclusion. Schwab has taken many risks in this novel, and it seems that all of them have paid off, and I truly can’t recommend this one enough to anyone who needs to be transported by a truly brilliant story. (I think this applies to all of us in 2020!)
Further Reading: V.E. Schwab has written tons of cool fantasy books, some of my favorites are Vicious, A Darker Shade of Magic, and A Gathering of Shadows. I think readers of her books will also enjoy Leigh Bardugo’s work, especially her novel Ninth House.