What is henrys curse in addie larue

“A dreamer,” scorns her mother.“A dreamer,” mourns her father.“A dreamer,” warns Estele.

Still, it does not seem such a bad word.”

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

I’m enjoying books that takes the thought experiments that you turn around in your head when you can’t sleep and renders them magnificent at the moment. Like Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library exploring a world in which you could erase past regrets, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab explores some of those most human of what ifs, what if you could live a life without responsibility? What if you could life as long as you wanted? What if you could be truly loved? What would you give to make these dreams come true? And what else would you be giving without realising?

In 1700s France, Addie LaRue is about to be forced into a life she doesn’t want, pushed into marriage with a widower to become a replacement mother to his three young children, she runs from the church and makes a Faustian pact with a man who might be the darkness, might be the devil, but agrees to give her an unlimited amount of time in exchange for her soul when she doesn’t want it anymore.

But pacts with old god, devils and the darkness are rarely as straightforward as the human making the deal might hope, and Addie soon realises that she’s traded her soul for a curse. She has unlimited time, but no one remembers her, and no one can remember her. She’s forced to walk the world alone, never able to settle or find security, with the darkness stalking at her heels waiting for her to yield. For nearly three hundred years she’s totally almost totally alone, lovers forgetting who she is when they wake in the morning, or a door closes between them until one day, a man in a book shop, with a secret of his own, remembers her.

I’m going to put it out there now that I wish that Addie LaRue was as forgettable as in the book – because then I could read it again for the first time. I don’t often re-read books but with this one I’m tempted. I love the concept, the characters, the writing, the dialogue… I haven’t read any of V.E. Schwab’s other books but after reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I’m tempted. It will be my go to birthday present for so many people this year who I think would love it to.

Spoilers for the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue below…

Does Luc love Addie? Does Addie love Luc? Does Addie love Henry? Does anyone love anyone?

Ah sympathy for the devil. I know, I know, Luc is a complete bastard in many ways but I do feel sorry for him gradually falling for Addie, trying to hold back on the tormenting her, telling her he loves her only to have it thrown back in his face. Given that he’s the devil, the darkness, one of the malevolent old gods, it can’t come as a surprise that he’d want to twist the knife with a Henry shaped trap.

I’ve seen reviews which didn’t buy the Henry/Addie love story but I completely did. Because there are so many different types of love and I think that Addie’s love for Henry is much more about herself than him. It’s less a selfless love, than a need he fulfils. There’s obviously the physical attraction – at first she thinks he’s Luc who has based his own appearance on Addie’s ideal man, and joked about how many of her lovers look like him, she has a type, but also there’s the other needs that he fulfils. He’s the first person who can remember her in three hundred years, he can say her name, he can write her story and she goes for men and women who can leave a mark for her, and this one isn’t allusions in a song, freckles in a painting but her story explicitly spelled out on paper. He also reminds her so much of herself before she was cursed, the fear of time running out, of never being able to do enough, that speaks to her. She relishes his company, the experienced of being remembered, of building a story together…. But I would argue that in the story V.E. Schwab has written, it doesn’t really matter if Addie LaRue loves Henry Strauss, she certainly isn’t sure, even before she realises the full nature of his curse, whether she loves him. She wants to, but she doesn’t wholly believe that she does.

“And then he whispers three words into her hair. “I love you,” he says, and Addie wonders if this is love, this gentle thing. If it is meant to be this soft, this kind. The difference between heat, and warmth. Passion, and contentment. “I love you too,” she says. She wants it to be true.”

To some extent, Addie realises that her love for Henry is like Luc’s love for Addie – they are in love with the only person who knows them. She as much as acknowledges this to herself as she and Henry drive away for the time away by themselves as he runs out of time and Henry asks her if she would have made the same deal again, when she weights up what she’s gained and what she’s lost “She fell in love with the darkness many times, fell in love with a human once.”

So for me, how sincerely we believe in Addie and Henry’s love, the type of love, the depth of it is irrelevant, because to all intents and purposes, the whole relationship is another part of the twisted game that Addie and Luc are playing with each other, with shades of Cathy and Heathcliff, how much can you hurt the person you know you really love? Luc has deliberately set Henry’s curse in motion for him to stumble into the path of Addie, remember her, and for their relationship to grow with the full intention of his big reveal to Addie that surprise, I was always behind it in the dark, twisting the knife, looking for a new way to break you. But for centuries, Addie has revelled in the game of finding the cracks in the curse, of beating Luc at his own game, leaving her mark despite him, to spite him. Henry’s just another extension of this and becomes her trump card in the game she’s been playing against Luc. By apparently submitting to Luc, to free Henry from his curse, she’s setting an example of how she wants Luc to love her by taking her soul out of the deal, and because he believes that she’s chosen him and he’s won he agrees. But by doing this, this allows Henry to survive long enough to publish her story, her name everywhere. A strike against Luc that he doesn’t seem to even be angry about. But then we realise that all of this served a bigger purpose, not only is Addie’s soul now off the table, but the revised deal has provided her with the prospect of the freedom that she’s always truly craved – the terms are now that she will stay by his side as long as he wants her there, and she’s willing to play the twisted love game long term, because never underestimate the hold of a toxic relationship when both parties are determined to win.

“Perhaps it will take twenty years. Perhaps it will take a hundred. But he is not capable of love, and she will prove it. She will ruin him. Ruin his idea of them. She will break his heart, and he will come to hate her once again. She will drive him mad, drive him away. And then, he will cast her off. And she will finally be free.”

So yes, sympathy for the devil, poor Luc has no idea of the hell Addie has in store for him.

Book: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Edition: Hardcover, A Tor Book

While an exceptionally long book, I loved the stunning writing and the incredibly creative storyline.

There is so much depth to the novel, including the timeless theme of human love alongside leaving our legacy, our mark on the world. While not a time-travel book per say, it could certainly make a good read for a group focused on that genre.

Online Resources

Leaving a mark, being remembered is an central theme to the novel. Eric Kim shares one very short blog on one perspective on wanting to be remembered.

Two extremes of length of life are contrasted between Henry’s year and Addie’s infinite lifeline. Ezekiel J. Emanuel writes in the Atlantic about why he wants to live to 75. This may be a good article to get you thinking about the length of life and the quality of life.

Time. Such an elusive concept at times. Why does time sometimes seem to pass too slowly and others times too quickly and how can we control our perception of time? The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organizatio, shared Feel like time is flying? Here’s how to slow it down by Steve Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett University. Addie embraces the feeling of helping to slow time down, by always looking for new experiences and working to be mindfully present as Taylor discusses.

If you would like to hear and see Victoria speak, Andrew Sumner interviews her on Forbidden Planet in a 20-minute interview where Schwab talks about her writing process in creating Addie, what is time and what is memory and the pain we experience in being forgotten, other places she imagined Addie could have traveled, her relationship with Luc and yes, the author’s love of bookstores.

List of Characters

Addie LaRue— Born March 10, 1691 and is cursed on July 29, 1714 to never have anyone remember who she is once she is out of sight
Luc— the darkness who appears to Addie in the form of a human male and grants Addie’s request in exchange for her soul

In New York City

Toby Marsh— Musician in New York City who Addie inspires to write an extraordinary song
James St. Clair— Wealthy, young gay man whose apartment Addie stays in
Henry Strauss— The Last Word bookstore owner who is also cursed
Book— Henry’s cat
Bea— Friend of Henry’s and post-grad in art history
Robbie— past lover of Henry’s and an actor
David Strauss— Henry’s older brother
Muriel Strauss— Henry’s younger sister
Sam Benning— Addie’s brief artistic lover briefly and resident of another apartment where Addie crashes
Tabitha Masters— Woman to whom Henry proposed and was turned down

Before New York City

Jean LaRue— Addie’s father who is a woodworker
Marthe LaRue— Addie’s mother
Estele Margritte— Neighbor in Villon-Sur-Sarthe, who warns Addie against praying to gods that answer after dark and to be careful what she asks for
Isabelle Therault— Young wife, mother
Remy Laurent— Young man whom Addie meets when she dresses up as a man
Madame Geoffrin— Salnnière who invites Addie to her salon
Matteo Renatti— Artist in Venice who sketches Addie

Time Periods

1691: Addie born
Summer 1698: Addie goes to market with her father for the first time away from home
Fall 1703: Addie learns from Estelle about praying to gods
Summer 1714: Addie’s wedding day and when she makes a deal with the darkness
1714 to 1789: Addie’s life in Paris
1789 to 1806: Addie’s life in Italy
1827: Addie briefly in London
1872: Addie and Luc attend play in Munich
1899: Addie in the Cotswolds
1914: Addie heads for New York City
1941 to 1944: Addie returns to France to be a spy for the Allies
1952 to 1984: Addie and Luc have a romantic relationship
1970 to 1984: New Orleans and finally the end of Addie and Luc’s supposed romance/game
September 2013: Henry’s heart is broken and Luc curses him to always be loved for one year
March 2014 to September 2014: Addie and Henry are a couple in New York City
September 2015: Henry’s book is published

Discussion Topics

Addie and Luc’s relationship is tortured and multi-dimensional. In Paris she thinks,

“Perhaps an enemy’s company is still better than none.” page 131

And later in Paris,

“But in his mocking smile, his toying words, the darkness has given her the one thing she truly needs: an enemy.” page 150

Finding the love of her life is the only thing Addie truly believes in at the time she is cursed. She believes there is a soulmate, a relationship that she is meant to find. And so Luc takes that form as he appears to her. Then for 300 years, until Addie meets Henry, they become the only constant in one another’s lives.

What dimensions did you see in their relationship? What do you see as the arc of their relationship? How do they each try to harm one another? How do they each seek something they need from the other?

As I think about some of the more challenging relationships I’ve had in my life, I can now reflect back on what I was able to learn about myself, about how I could change or speak up, about how to hear and see the depth in differing ways of being. Alongside complaining about or praising a manager or co-worker, a neighbor or family member, how could I nurture the best in a relationship and change the worst? What have been some of your most challenging relationships and how did each impact your story?

Being Remembered

“‘You cursed me to be forgotten.’

You asked for freedom. There is no greater freedom than that.’” page 142

And then as she leaves James’ empty apartment, Addie thinks,

“But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.“ page 77

and the when she meets Henry he says

“‘I remember you.’

Three words, large enough to tip the world.

I remember you.” page 135

The contrast between the freedom of being forgotten and the need to be remembered is stark throughout the novel. Luc understands the need to be remembered and how wicked his curse is. Following the play in Munich in 1872, he says to Addie,

“‘Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists Because vision weakens, voices wither, and talent fades…Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end,’ he says, ‘everyone wants to be remembered.’” page 351

How do you see each of the characters in the novel working to be remembered? Is there a distinction between living in the present and thinking about the mark an individual will leave behind?

Why do you think humans feel the importance of being remembered? How do you want to be remembered? What will be your legacy? Many books explore this theme. To delve deeper into leaving a legacy you may want to read and discuss The Book of Longings.

Leaving a Mark

Abbie is cursed,

“Unable to leave a mark on anyone, or anything.” page 115

Later Luc tells her that ideas are wilder than memories and she will learn that

“she can plant them, too” page 210

And so she does. Each section of the book begins with the description of a piece of art that has been created because Addie exists— Revenir, in the Musée d’Orsay, the painting by Sam, the pencil sketch by Matteo Renatti. Addie is in Toby’s song and in Henry’s stories and the polaroids Henry takes.

When she goes to view the sculpture Revenier of five wooden birds, one of them modeled on the one her father carved for her Addie thinks,

“The first mark she left upon the world, long before she knew the truth, that ideas are so much wilder than memories, that they long and look for ways of taking root.” page 77

When she meets Remy, Addie asks,

“Do you think a life has any value if one doesn’t leave some mark upon the world?” page 179

After Matteo sketches her,

“She has not left a mark. And yet, she has. She has impressed herself upon Matteo, and he has impressed her upon the page.” page 326

And she thinks

“I have found a way to leave a mark, she wants to say to him. You thought you could erase me from this world, but you cannot. I am still here. I will always be here.” page 327

And of course, Henry writes her story in all its tumult and all of its love.

Leaving a mark is a human trait— from artistic creations, to making a difference in the world, to gravestones with names and dates— humans yearn to leave a mark that they were here, that they mattered.

When have you thought about the mark you are leaving or that you wish to leave on this world?

Henry works with Addie to leave her mark when she is unable to create her mark on her own. How have you supported others in leaving their marks? Perhaps through a literal action like an artist’s painting or Henry’s writing. As Henry thinks,

“Henry would rather be a storekeeper than a storyteller.” page 92

Rather than telling his story, he wants to share someone else’s.

Perhaps you have amplified someone’s voice or story, using your platforms, and your sources of power.

Where have you left your mark or helped someone else leave a mark?

Optimism

Addie is relentlessly optimistic as she learns how to survive without being remembered. She figures ways out of her predicaments and in most cases has to rely upon her own wits— only calling upon Luc in several moments of despair.

That’s one of the reasons I liked this novel, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Addie’s resilience, her optimism and her ingenuity was delightful.

Are there moments in your experience where you have appreciated your own or someone else’s ingenuity? When has optimism won out in your experience over pessimism? How do you or others cultivate optimism?

Time

“Time— how often has she heard it described as sand within a glass, steady, constant. But that is a lie because she can feel it quicken, crashing toward her.” page 42

Henry has just one year and Addie has infinite time in her life. How do their yearnings and their needs compare?

Luc says to Addie,

“‘The soul is the easiest thing to trade. It’s the time no one considers.” page 383

In thinking about Luc’s statement, I think about how often I don’t think about the finiteness of time, and the other moments when life seems completely finite. There are extremes perspectives in human lives when an individual feels immortal and when an individual feels the crushing weight of limited time. Addie represents one end of this spectrum and Henry the other. How do you view time and your lifeline? When has time felt the most limited to you? When has it felt the most expansive?

At the beginning of the novel, before the curse,

“Blink, and the years fall away like leaves.” page 31

As she says goodbye to Henry, Addie says,

“‘Life can feel very long sometimes, but in the end, it goes so fast… You better live a good life, Henry Strauss.” page 429

This resonated strongly with me— the moments of discomfort and pain and loss that stretch immensely and the moments when life feels so fleeting. When have you felt each of these extremes in time?

New Places

As Addie reflects back on Luc abandoning her in Florence, she thinks,

“That even if Luc meant to abandon her, stranding her there in Florence, in doing so he broke a kind of seal. In yet another, maddening way, he fired her free.” page 324

What do you think? Where in the novel does Addie get a nudge to go somewhere new and experience another facet of life? When are these forces external and when does she generate her own personal nudges?

Do you need a nudge to get somewhere new? Do you seek out new experiences? Where do these moments stem from in your life?

Love

This novel shares dimensions of romantic love and how Luc is unable to fully understand human love and what it means. The difficulty in understanding human emotions is a theme across literature and entertainment. Voldemort underestimates the power of love in the Harry Potter series. Q is flummoxed attempting to understand the range of human emotions on Star Trek. Some of the many loving relationships in the move Love Actually.

In The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Addie and Luc have very different perspectives on what love is.

In the end when Luc asks Addie how her human love was Addie thinks,

“It was messy. It was hard, It was wonderful, and strange, and frightening, and fragile— so fragile it hurt— and it was worth every single moment.” page 427

How do you view love? What books, TV shows, movies, poems, works of art have you seen that express the complexity of love?

A Few Additional Quotes

“You discover what you can and cannot live without. The simply necessities and small joys that define a life. Not food, not shelter, not the basic things a body needs— those are, for her, a luxury— but the things that keep you sane. That bring you joy. That make life bearable.” page 35

“the idea of the past blotted out, written over by the present, and think of this moment in Le Mans.” page 78

What quotes resonated with you?