The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and the Pee Mystery
First off, I feel exhausted just writing out this book's title. Exhausted is a succinct summary of my feelings regarding this book. It’s not that it’s the worst book I’ve ever read by a long shot. It’s not even a story I would classify as mediocre. I will say that I wasn’t blown away by this book and I felt I spent a lot of my reading experience actively motivating myself toward the ending. In my opinion, a good book carries you effortlessly to the very end. A great book ends too soon.
At it’s best, Addie Larue did capture my attention. I was taken aback by some of the clever twists of the story. I also admired Schwab’s bravery in exploring profound concepts. Unfortunately, more often than not, I found myself a little bored. Sometimes, I would go as far as to say I was very bored and I was willing the narrator to speed things along.
I was pretty disappointed, as I had been promised a top-notch novel. Many are raving about Addie Larue and with good reason. Addie Larue has a compelling core concept, which is responsible for the novel’s great success.
Addie makes a deal with a god to escape her inevitable fate as a reluctant wife and mother in a rural town in 1700s France. She wants to live forever and experience a life with no limits, beyond her sleepy village. She is so determined to escape an ill-fated marriage that she is willing to pay a high cost, one soul.
A god who preys on desperate people after dark says he will make her dreams come true, but this deal comes with a secret catch. Addie will always be forgotten. She will be forgotten by everyone she meets as soon as she is out of their sight. She can’t write anything down and she can’t even say her own name. She is given the ability to live forever, but she is cursed to never be able to leave her mark on history.
This concept gave Schwab some compelling worldbuilding challenges. If Addie can't be remembered by anyone, she is also unable to hold down a job and get consistent housing. I did enjoy reading how Addie learns to get around these challenges and continues to survive despite the odds.
What I found difficult while reading the text was the believability of the world-building. Don’t get me wrong, I can get behind curses and demons and the consequences of these fantastical in-story rules. What I can’t get behind, is that a human being could go for hours on end without needing to wee.
Let me elaborate, Addie repeatedly forms these connections with people that only last a day. After spending the night together, Addie’s latest squeeze won’t know her from Adam upon waking. Ok, that’s fine it’s been explained that people forget Addie as soon as a door closes, or after a wee kip. What I can’t get my head around are the hours leading up to said one-night stand. People have bodily functions to attend to, which means that it would be impossible for Addie to be in their sight at all times. This issue is never really explained, even though Schwab goes into detail about Addie’s other elaborate schemes to hold people’s attention.
I found it most baffling that Schwab has been praised for her great writing. I think the way she writes kept me from being engrossed in the story. At times, and I hate to say it, I cringed at her writing. I just couldn’t stand repeatedly reading diatribes about Addie. Addie has seven freckles across her face, which resemble a constellation apparently. Addie repeatedly encounters the most talented people throughout history. She is obsessed with them, and vice versa.
I recognise that my opinion of Schwab’s writing is an unpopular one. I’m willing to admit that writing style is a matter of personal taste. But heed my warning, if you insist on referring to grown women and men as “boys” and “girls,” I can assure you I will not be a big fan of your book.
For large chunks of the book, I just felt like I could see the construction of the novel, rather than being enveloped by the story. To use a common expression, I just couldn’t get into it. Something about the narrative style distanced me from the text. It all felt very clever, yet very contrived.
I was also not especially captivated by the romance in Addie Larue. Addie eventually starts a relationship with a major character called Henry Strauss. He just wasn’t interesting to me and Addie even seemed to agree that Henry was a lukewarm romantic lead. At one point, she wonders if she loves him, contemplating if she is meant to feel that comfortable with someone she deeply loves.
Well, I would argue that Addie was possibly feeling a mild fondness for Henry rather than love because he’s honestly a wet blanket. I started to enjoy her interactions with the god, who Addie names Luc, much more, and I’m not sure I was meant to be rooting for him. Luc presented a much-needed point of interest for me in between reading boring lovey-dovey scenes between Henry and Addie.
This makes me ponder why I like certain narrative styles and not others. I definitely don’t need the books I read to be winning any awards. There’s a lot to be said for a novel that is a literary success, but some of the books I have enjoyed most in the last year weren’t shortlisted for the Man Booker prize by any stretch of the imagination.
I have reached the stage in my life where I’m no longer snobby about books. I am not ashamed to admit that I like popular fiction. It’s somewhat embarrassing that I once thought I was above the likes of the romance novels or say the Harry Potter series. After all, a lot of the time books are popular for a reason.
I can get behind a much talked about work of fiction. Over the last year, I have frequently read well-received books and loved them. I loved Normal People. I enjoyed Such a Fun Age. I’m a big fan of Little Fires Everywhere. But by god, I can’t understand why this book receives anything more than mild interest from readers.
More people seem to love this book than those who hate it, so don’t take my word for it. With all this being said, I enjoyed Addie Larue well enough, but a five-star novel it was not.
Comments
Post a Comment