Hello and welcome to the last formal post about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Buckle up because this is going to be be a long post (Well it was supposed to be. I got the flu and it took a lot out of me). I have gone back and forth on how I wanted to do this. Have a final taste test where I just go over my thought and have the The Last Page be the overall discussion or just have it all in one post. Well I want to just write one post and I feel like this is going to be long but that is okay. This is what we do, we read. So I will finish with my comments about Part 4, go onto thoughts about the book, and then there are discussion questions online that I have found that I would love to go through with you all.

• Why is Bea the only one that notices her in history? What is special about her?
  • I personally have no idea why. Just curious to see what you all think
• How do you feel this story is going to end?
  • Some form of happy ending is what I want. I think Addie is going to find a loophole and restore her mortality and her and Henry can live their normal human non-cursed lives
• As of right now, who’s curse is worse?
  • Henry for the reason that he does not know what is real and is not with his loved ones

Part 4: Part 6 to Part 7 (Pages 361 – end)

Part Six: Do Not Pretend That This is Love

Luc coming to talk with her at the anniversary was not what I expected how the ring was going to be given. Something so sweet and intimate, taking her away from her pain was unexpected. Warning her of the war that is coming, saying that he does not like them because of the art that is created is also interesting. It was interesting to read this as there was clearly a change within Luc. Something that goes against who he has been for the entirety of this book. This is certainly something that I will be coming back to.

The “I Love you” was sweet and cute but the nerves in Addie scare me too.

“She will not see him again until the war”

There is a double meaning here and I love that. Clearly there is the meaning of the war that is going to be coming to Europe but there is something underneath it. She mentions the pieces are set and she is ready to go to battle against Luc. Now as we have read this we know that she saw him many times prior to her battle with Luc but I do not think she truly saw him in the ways that she did before. I think she was taken in by the kindness and allowed the moments to go and she glazed over, no longer seeing him for the monster and darkness. And we see that once he shows that side of himself again she was back and ready to go.

I knew he only had a year but it still got to me when it got revealed to Addie. The pride that Luc got to have when he was the one who told and hinted to Addie the confines of Henry’s curse made me so angry. He is such a great antagonist in this story because he is not truly evil or malicious. He is a device that people use to get ahead and he is the debt that needs to be paid.

My heart if breaking for these two. They found each other either by Luc or by the pushings of fate or luck but I just want them to be happy and to make it through. But sadly that is not what happened.

Something that I want to discuss is that the jacket that Addie is so found of is most likely the same jacket that Luc gave her. There is a lot of layers there

Wow Henry is making his goodbyes. It is sad and poetic the conversation about life and death and suicide

“As long as you want me by your side”

I am writing this before I continue forward. Addie is going to do something that is going to have that come back a bite him. She is smart and she will find a way. Now that I have finished the novel it makes sense that she said that and she would

I just have chills. The fact that this book exists is so touching. I have felt every page of this

300 years in exchange for the life of the man she loves

Part Seven: I Remember You

Photos are the last art and we started with the sculpture of the bird and now it ends with a photo.

Writing the book so that she will never be forgotten and using her name on the cover. I am actually crying as this is so fucking touching my damn

Wow she won in the end she did it. My heart hurts as I want them to be together her and Henry but glad she got some control in the end.

Final Review

Yeah, all right, I’m gonna do my thoughts on Addie LaRue this way, so at least they’re out. I just don’t feel like typing. So sorry. Audience,
but
Yeah, no, I loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I think it was really powerful. It’s not necessarily a book that everyone has to read, but it’s one that deserves to exist. It’s a story that asks: what does it mean to be a person? Not in the grand, heroic sense of saving lives or changing the world, but in the quiet, intimate way of leaving an impression—of living, of experiencing, of existing in a way that feels meaningful.

Because, at its core, that’s what Addie wanted. She didn’t want to die in her small village, unnoticed, just another wife in a life pre-decided for her. She didn’t even fully know what she wanted at the time, but she knew she wanted more. And then, through this impossible deal, she got exactly that—three hundred years of more. She witnessed history unfold—famines, wars, revolutions, art, and technology—and yet, despite the centuries, she remained undeniably human. And that’s what makes her story so compelling.

Addie’s journey is about making an impression. But what does that even mean? Is it about doing something monumental, something that etches your name into the history books? Or is it about the smaller, subtler marks—making art, inspiring others, leaving a piece of yourself behind in ways that don’t need to be recorded to matter? That’s where Addie found her answer. She couldn’t physically leave her mark, but she found joy in influencing others, in shaping their art, their music, their stories. And in that way, she did leave a mark. And that’s beautiful.

Then there’s Henry. Henry, who just wanted to be enough.

That’s such a weighty, loaded thing—what is enough? Is it being exactly what everyone expects of you? Or is it simply showing up? The world puts this relentless pressure on us to be the best—the smartest, the most successful, the one who has everything figured out. But what if we don’t? What if we fail, over and over, and feel like we’ll never measure up? That’s Henry’s struggle. He tried. He kept trying. And he kept falling short, until he made a deal just to feel like he mattered to the people around him.

Addie’s deal was for more time. Henry’s deal was to be enough. And somehow, in all the twists of fate, they found each other.

And that raises another question—was it destiny? Was it Luc’s interference? Was it their curses pulling them together? Maybe it was all of it. Maybe none of it. But either way, it happened, and it was real for them.

Which leads to one of the most interesting conversations in the book: love versus possession.

Luc never loved Addie. He wanted to possess her, to own her, to keep her like something rare and intriguing. That’s not love. And that’s something that so many people in real life struggle with—mistaking control for devotion, mistaking obsession for care. Love isn’t about owning someone. It’s about seeing them, flaws and all, and giving them space to exist. That’s what Henry did for Addie. He didn’t need her to be anything other than herself. And for a girl who spent centuries being forgotten, that was everything.

And there’s something to be said about the small moments in love, too. Not the grand declarations, but the in-between moments—the little things. The way someone hums absentmindedly when they’re happy. The way they twirl their hair when they’re thinking. The way they always put their head in your lap when you watch movies together. These are the things that Luc never saw in Addie because he never knew her—never cared to. But Henry did. Because real love isn’t just about being with someone—it’s about noticing them, in all their tiny, imperfect, human details.

So, yeah. This book was a lot. And it made me think about a lot. About what it means to leave a mark. About what it means to be enough. About what love is and what it isn’t. And at the end of the day, I think that’s what makes Addie LaRue’s story so powerful—it doesn’t just tell a tale of time and memory and loss. It asks questions that we all, at some point, have asked ourselves. And that’s why it lingers. That’s why it matters.

I think that’s what people forget about, and I don’t think that’s the point of this novel in the slightest. I don’t think at all, but I think it’s a byproduct that we don’t get to see often, and we don’t get to see a lot in this book, because we’re jumping back and forth. But we’re able to infer that Addie gets those moments and she misses those with all these people. She’s the big moments, not these little ones.

And there’s so many things I could dive into. The little moments in her history—the house burning down, her hopes and dreams literally going up in flames, the woman back in her village. There’s so much we can discuss, but really, this is a story of a woman who persevered for 300 years. That’s crazy. We barely think in terms of 100 years, but she had no one on her side. Sure, she had someone to ease her way, but no one to truly hold her hand when life got dark. Luke was there, but he had ulterior motives—so he doesn’t count, does he?

But in the end, it was a beautiful novel. There’s a lot to take away from it. The idea that you’re never really alone. That there’s always someone who will see you for who you are. Maybe that’s the message here. Yeah, there was magic, there were curses, but at the heart of it, Henry was the one person who truly saw Addie. And that changed her world.

And sometimes, that’s all it takes. It doesn’t have to be romantic. It just has to be someone.

I don’t know why I’m crying, but yeah.