Synopsis of the invisible life of addie larue

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Quotes and a Free Quiz on The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab.

The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Schwab, V.E. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue. Tom Doherty Associates 2020.

Addie Larue was born in the 17th century in Villon-sur-Sarthe, France. She is an inquisitive child who longs to escape the village. She grows up under the tutelage of the village elder Estele, who teaches her all about the old gods. When Addie turns 23, her parents decide to marry her off to another villager. On the evening of her wedding, Addie prays to the old gods to grant her freedom. Luc, the god of darkness, shows up. He grants her immortality in exchange for her soul once she tires of living. There is a catch; Addie is doomed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

In the year 2014, Addie lives in New York. She has no home of her own and sleeps at random apartments that belong to people she has met over the years. One day, she stops by a bookstore and steals a book. She gets caught by the employee, Henry, who follows her out of the store. Addie is shocked since people tend to forget her instantly.

Addie spends the 18th century living in Paris. At first, she prostitutes herself to get by. After a while, she starts dressing like a man in order to move more freely. She spends a romantic night with a young man named Remy, but he forgets her by the morning. This hurts Addie deeply. Luc frequently checks in on her and tries to tempt her into giving up her soul. Addie remains firm in her desire to live.

Back in the present moment, Addie asks Henry out for coffee. Their date goes on all night and both have a great time. They go out to the movies later in the week. Henry has a panic attack because he feels anxious about how quickly time passes. Henry and Addie have sex that night. She is pleasantly surprised when Henry remembers her in the morning. Henry brings Addie to his friend Bea’s dinner party. His ex, Robbie, gets jealous of Addie. Henry gets confused when his friends frequently forget Addie’s name. That night, Addie decides to tell him her life story. Henry believes her since he made a similar deal with Luc.

Henry suffers from depression. One night, after mixing alcohol with his medications, Luc shows up and offers him a deal. Henry will be deemed “enough” by everyone in exchange for his soul at the end of his life. Henry accepts, but the results are not as great as he hoped. People see what they want to see in him. He feels just as lonely as ever. Addie helps relieve his loneliness because she sees him for who he really is and likes him anyway.

Addie spends the 19th century travelling around Europe. Luc is always trailing close behind, ready to claim her soul. Addie visits Villon and plants a tree over Estele’s grave. She is devastated years later when the tree falls down. Luc comforts her. Luc has become kinder over the years. Addie looks forward to his visits.

In the year 1928, Addie runs into Luc at a speakeasy in Chicago. They dance together. They have sex that night, starting an affair that goes on for decades. By the year 1970, Addie and Luc are living in New Orleans. He tells her one day that he loves her and hands her a key to her new home. Addie loves Luc and has a hard time reminding herself that he is not human, but a god. One night in 1984, it dawns on Addie that Luc is simply using her for her soul. She sets the house on fire and leaves for good.

Luc shows up for the first time in 30 years and hints to Addie that Henry does not have long to live. Henry confesses that he made a second deal with Luc one night, when he nearly killed himself. He traded his life for one year without depression. At the moment, Henry has only one month left. Addie is horrified and begs Luc to cancel the deal. They spend a week together before Addie returns to Henry.

Henry and Addie do their best to enjoy the rest of his time on Earth together. On his last night of living, Addie confesses to him that she has made her own deal with Luc. She promised Luc to stay by his side so long as he wants her. In exchange, Henry will be allowed to live. Addie vanishes in the night.

Henry goes on to write a book about Addie called The Invisible Life of Addie Larue. Addie moves to London and works in a bookstore. She lives with Luc. She pretends to be happy and in love with Luc but in reality, she is secretly plotting her revenge.

It is that one desperate moment to save yourself, one hope that overwhelms you and you grasp tight to it, one blunt decision that changes your life. That’s was the story of Adeline Larue. All she wanted was to save herself and be free from everything. However, she did succeed and got freedom just like she wanted but it cost her everything.

“The Invisible Life of Addie Larue”, is a story of a girl invisible to the world. It was not the invisibility physically but people tend to forget her once she was out of sight. Adeline Larue was a girl living in a small village in France named Villon, with her parents. She was an innocent girl who wanted to see the world, visits every beautiful city, and enjoy being free. She used to roam around in her village and sometimes went out of the city with her father. She liked to read books and enjoyed drawing with charcoal. Her mother always scolded her and told her to act more like a woman but she did not pay any heed to her bits of advice. There was one woman in the village, Estele, who was known for her spiritual knowledge and wisdom. Addie liked and considered her a mentor. She taught her how to pray to different gods, how to ask for something from them. There were a few things she cleared to her that Gods are greedy and if you want something, you have to exchange the most precious thing you have. Alongside, she also warned her, “No matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”

Life was going all normal and humdrum routine for her when one day Addie’s mother told her that she arranged her wedding with a man in the village. She was taken aback by this news and wanted to refuse. She did not want to get married, she wanted to live her life freely and seek the world outside of this village but she knew her mother would not listen. She decided to run away.

Addie once drew a man of her dreams in the drawing book with charcoal. “Black curls. Pale eyes. Strong jaw. Sloping shoulders and a Cupid’s bow mouth. A man she’d never meet, a life she’d never know, a world she could only dream of”, a description of that drawing. After Addie ran away on her wedding day, the people of the village were after her. She desperately needed to escape from there and it was getting dark. Despite Estele’s warning, she called upon Gods of darkness and wanted their help.

Fortunately, a God did appear and the God looked exactly like the boy of her dreams from her drawing. Later, she named him Luc (as referring to Lucifer). She asked for his help, exchanges the most precious thing she had, her father’s ring, and begged for his help. Addie did not realize that it was dark and she was asking God of darkness for help.

“I do not want to belong to anyone but myself. I want to be free. Free to live, and to find my way, to love, or to be alone, but at least it is my choice, and I am so tired of not having choices, so scared of the years rushing past beneath my feet. I do not want to die as I’ve lived, which is no life at all”, these were Adeline’s words. Her wish was granted and Luc told her that if she ever wanted to give up her immortal life, he will take her soul.

It’s been more than 300 years, Addie roaming around the world, seeing World Wars, watching people born, getting young, and die. It was quite painful to encounter people because as soon as she left, they would forget her.

One day, she met a boy named Henry who did not forget her, who remembered her, and everything changed for her. She was stunned, happy, and anxious about what happened. But both of them started to fall for each other. The reason why he remembered her was that he also sold his soul to Luc for being loved. He was living a miserable life, everyone accused him of something, his family was disappointed with him, and so he asked Luc to make people love him.

All this took an interesting turn as Luc was jealous of Addie being with Henry. He turned the table and somehow ended everything in his favor. Then again, Addie was all alone and there was only Luc who remembered her.

This novel is a great fiction written by the author V.E. Schwab. She tried to portray the problems women have been facing throughout history in a social setup. How many girls like Adeline want freedom out there and suffer for their innocence. This book is a beautiful combination of courage, freedom, satanic energies, and a touch of romance.

This novel is summarized by Hafsah Afridi, one of the team members at the SOL Community.

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