The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in The Reading For Pleasure Book Club

Nov 21, 2020 Carrie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-boyfriend, fantasy, goddess-gods, heroine-i-adore, tear-jerker, books-about-or-mentioning-books, literary-fiction, retellings

Oh how I adored thee...

This was beautiful, and seductive.
A caress, a whisper.

description

Adeline LaRue does not want this life that is laid out for her, she turns down proposal after proposal, until her parents arrange marriage with Roger. She doesn't want to marry and lose herself. She wants to be free, to live.

So she prays, to the old gods, the new God does nothing. Day in day out she prays, giving all she has yet none answer.

And time is running out.

Never pray to the gods that answer after dark

If yo ...more

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Jan 23, 2021 Meera rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, bookmarks-magazine, bought2020, book-club, bwc2021

2.5

I wanted to love this because I thought the writing was beautiful. But it started slow for me and when I thought it was going to take some interesting turns, it was the same old and I was never excited to pick it up again. I found the narrative repetitive in its plot and theme. I also couldn’t connect to the main characters because while the writing was beautiful, it also kept me distant from the characters. I was not emotionally invested as I read it. I wish I could have liked it more as mos ...more

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Apr 04, 2022 John Warner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance, historical-fantasy

Never pray to the gods that answer after dark.

Addie Larue is an attractive young woman, so much so, that when she passes by heads turn. However, once she is out of sight she is forgotten, as if she never existed.

Adeline "Addie" Larue was born in France at the end of the 17th century. She has recently been betrothed to a man by her parents to a man she doesn't want to marry. She wants nothing less than to have her freedom, to find her own way, to experience wonder, unencumbered by another person. ...more

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Jan 23, 2021 Shelli rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-i-own, ni-group-read, audio, fantasy-fix, great-narrator, historical, read-in-2021

I'm glad I waited awhile to review this one. The more time I've had, the more time I've taken to remember and reflect on it. Several of my reading friends have rated this one lower. I thought this might make me see things differently or change my feelings, as has happened. Not so here. While I can understand how they felt, it wasn't the same for me. It was slow in the beginning. So slow in fact, that I waited to also get the audio before continuing. Once I got into the flow of the story with the I'm glad I waited awhile to review this one. The more time I've had, the more time I've taken to remember and reflect on it. Several of my reading friends have rated this one lower. I thought this might make me see things differently or change my feelings, as has happened. Not so here. While I can understand how they felt, it wasn't the same for me. It was slow in the beginning. So slow in fact, that I waited to also get the audio before continuing. Once I got into the flow of the story with the audio, I found myself both reading and listening with pleasure. I was never bored. It wasn't a super exciting story. A lot happened over 300 years, but it wasn't shocking....the story jumped back and forth in time and it slowly unfolded. But the writing....I loved it.

"She moves among the books as if they're friends. And perhaps, in a way, they are. They are, he supposes, a part of her story, another thing she's touched. Here, she says, is a writer she once met, and here is an idea she had, here a book she read when it first came out. Now and then, Henry glimpses sadness, glimpses longing, but they are only flashes, and then she redoubles, brightens, launching into another story."

This is an idea this author came up with. It's a good one. So creative. Told in glimpses and flashes. We see pain and longing and also love and beauty. I loved the art references. Loved how she tied them into the story. It might actually make me look at art differently sometimes...and wonder. There were so many quotes I marked or wanted to while listening. Going back through them made me appreciate the story even more. The little details, like Book....the cat.
There were a few unanswered questions and little things that nagged at me. I think the beginning of the story could have been shorter. This is what kept it from a five star for me. I didn't feel like Addie herself was a favorite character for me but I did find myself swept up in the telling of her story.
I've read other books by this author that were so different...filled with magic and more... jolting. This one made me appreciate her range of creativity and talent. A few more memorable quotes...

“There’s this family photo,” he says, “not the one in the hall, this other one, from back when I was six or seven. That day was awful. Muriel put gum in David’s book and I had a cold, and my parents were fighting right up until the flash went off. And in the photo, we all look so … happy. I remember seeing that picture and realizing that photographs weren’t real. There’s no context, just the illusion that you’re showing a snapshot of a life, but life isn’t snapshots, it’s fluid. So photos are like fictions. I loved that about them. Everyone thinks photography is truth, but it’s just a very convincing lie.”

“I don’t know how to be with someone,” she whispers. “I don’t know how to be a normal person.”
His mouth quirks into a crooked grin. “You’re incredible, and strong, and stubborn, and brilliant. But I think it’s safe to say you’re never going to be normal.”

“I can’t hold a pen. I can’t tell a story. I can’t wield a weapon, or make someone remember. But art,” she says with a quieter smile, “art is about ideas. And ideas are wilder than memories. They’re like weeds, always finding their way up.”

“You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much.”

...more

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