The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
I've had The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab on my list for a while - and was finally prompted to listen to the audiobook when I saw that the free version I'd got on Audible would be disappearing from my library (quite appropriately) in the next couple of weeks.
And, for the most part, I absolutely loved it.
Addie escapes an arranged marriage in the 1700s by making a deal with The Darkness to allow her immortality in exchange for her soul, whenever she gets tired of living. The Darkness cleverly creates other conditions of her extended life, specifically to make her want to give it up sooner - as soon as she leaves the sight of anyone she's met, they instantly forget her. So, she can't develop relationships over more than a few hours, she can't earn money or rent property, or leave a mark on the world in any way (though she finds interesting ways around this last one).
And then, in 2014, she meets Henry...
Very little actually happens in this 560-page book. But I found it to be exquisitely written, deeply involving, very emotive, and incredibly compelling. I can absolutely see why certain people wouldn't like it (I originally thought it would be a good choice for my family book club, but I'm not sure any of the other members would appreciate it for various reasons) - but it totally worked for me, until it didn't.
Some of the twists were obvious (but not in an annoying way) and some took me completely by surprise (also not in an annoying way). There were many points during the book where I came up with a question, which was almost immediately answered, and I thought a lot of the aspects of the story and how things worked were really clever.
I was fully invested in Addie's life and how she lived it, and I found quite a lot of what happened very affecting. And I loved the inclusion of Henry's story and where that went as well.
But somehow, the ending felt very nothing-y. After such a rollercoaster of emotion (if not actual plot), I wanted something more and felt a bit cheated of a satisfactory conclusion. But I'm not sure how else it could have ended... And I loved almost every aspect of the journey getting there.