Out of sight, out of mind. We've all heard the expression. But imagine truly living this to the extreme. Imagine that as soon as you were out of someone's eyesight they completely forgot about you. That's the case for the title character in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. (description via GoodReads.com)
It is fascinating to follow along as Addie learns to navigate a world where no one remembers her once they leave the room, or fall asleep. Making it impossible to make friends, get a job, or even rent a room for the night. I ached for her in parts and felt frustration at her for some of the choices she makes along the way.
There were a few details of the story that kind of made me pause. For instance, Addie can spend an entire day with someone - drinking coffee or at a bar - but no one ever had to go to the bathroom or anything else that would cause them to leave her for all that time? Ok... (shrug). It's not a big thing, and easily forgotten. (kind of like Addie herself)
Over the centuries, Addie's focus becomes finding a way to leave her mark on the world. To tell her stories. And in a way, deep down, isn't that what we all want?
All in all, it's an interesting premise for a novel and I enjoyed the read.
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