The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

This book is great. Seriously great. And you might look at it and think, “that’s a chonky/thick book,” but they are potato chip chapters; short but you can’t read just one.

Addie LaRue makes a deal with an old god that in exchange for her soul, she will be free of the confines of her life and she will have time to live. The old god adds a twist to her new-found immortality: she cannot be remembered. Addie lives each moment, each day in the present, figuring out ways to leave her mark on the world, until she meets a boy who remembers her. Henry is never enough to anyone and no one truly sees him, just who they want to see, until Addie.

This book has SO MANY LAYERS. We could talk about the power of a muse and what makes someone a muse. We could talk pro/cons and morality of Addie’s type of immortality (she cannot own or keep anything, so she steals everything). We can talk about the character themes of feeling cracked and broken and of having a punctured heart that cannot hold love in. We can discuss the nature of love, desire, want, and need. We can talk about history, what was the greatest age, and where the edge of now becomes a solid then. We could talk about real and fictional works of art in fiction.

We could talk about all those things, but really, I’d rather you just read this amazing book. -Ford