Upon publishing my review of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, I checked out the other reviews on Goodreads. There are lots of good reviews, but I was surprised to see some readers had rated it extremely low. Fortunately, they also wrote lengthy essays justifying doing so. I understand that not all books are for all people, nonetheless I believe these reviewers are misguided in their opinions.
The issues brought up seem to center on the following:
The book has no plot and is repetitive, at least until the end.
Addie lived for over three hundred years through fascinating historical times, yet the narrative barely reflects these.
There is only one person of color mentioned in the book.
Books generally have a plot and character development, but these characteristics will vary in their emphasis from book to book. For example, the James Bond books and DaVinci Code books have vigorous plots, yet James Bond and Langston are basically the same person at the end of the book as they were at the beginning. The Harry Potter and Game of Thrones books have both intricate plots and strong character development, at least for their younger protagonists. Books that predominantly focus character development over plot are somewhat rarer, but V.E. Schwab’s book is a prototypical example of one. It should be noted that this book does have a strong plot in regards to Addie’s relationship with the old god, which changes in interesting ways over the decades.
The book is somewhat repetitive, because Addie’s life was repetitive. Due to her condition of invisibility, she was consigned to a life on the fringe on society. How do you live without have meaningful, contractual relations with other people? She managed, but mostly through theft, artifice, and, to a degree, sex. The book explores how she managed to do so better over time, giving her a more meaningful, yet still stunted life.
Yes, this book could have delved into the historical eras through which Addie lived. It was the author’s choice to not do so other than in a passing way, and, in my opinion, she made the correct choice. Delving into historical subplots would have been a distraction from the prime focus of the story: how does one survive if you are effectively invisible. Also, being that Addie operated on the fringe of society, she wasn’t generally well positioned to observe many historical events. Lastly, as to their only being one person of color, for most of Addie’s life she lived in places without many people of color. I don’t believe a book should be penalized for this. I will soon review a book, The Personal Librarian, that deals extensively and predominately with issues of people of color. There is room enough for both books to happily coexist in this world.
kennethdschultz 