**contains spoilers**
A Life No One Remembers. A Story You Will Never Forget.
“Three words, large enough to tip the world. I remember you.”
V.E. Schwab
What Is It About?
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
My opinion
/5
If you have read the book, you would have noticed at the beginning of each chapter, was a description of a piece of art. Made by people whose lives were touched by Addie's. Even only for a fleeting moment since they have no memory of her. At first, I thought they were real art pieces (I even went and searched on Google ). Sadly, they weren't. Still, I loved each artwork describe a different moment of Addie's life, something that marked her life in a meaningful way. Because that's life, right? We are made of memories and experiences (yes, I'm quoting Patroclus in TSOA); we define ourselves for what we went through. We evolve and mature alongside the people who are next to us. But, what happens when the person next to you doesn't remember you AT ALL?
Addie was a young woman who didn't enjoy her life, who wanted more in her life and to be more than a country girl with her life dictated by the social norms of her time. I sympathize with Addie. I felt that Addie was the black sheep of her little town since she wasn't married (and didn't want to) and because she thought very differently as her local folk.
She befriended the old "witch" of the town, who taught her about the Old Gods but constantly reminded her to NEVER pray to the gods that answer after dark.
However, when her parents made an arranged marriage for her, caused her an anxiety attack. She flees her wedding and makes a deal with the devil. She asks to be free, not be tied, to anything or anyone. But since she doesn't know what she truly wants, the devil decides to give her immortality. With the consequence that NOBODY will remember her. Everyone who knows her will forget about her after they stop seeing her.
With the goal that at the end, when she no longer wants to be immortal, he will keep her soul.
So each year, on the anniversary of Addie's immortality day, the devil (who later on is called Luc) visits her to try and convince her to give up. Not only to give up her soul and life but the idea that she mattered and is someone important. That is cruel and twisted if you ask me.
But Addie, being stubborn as a mule, always said no. Making it a competition to see who succumbs first.
So, Addie wanders for 300 years, having to learn and adapt to her curse, which later on she stops hating. She accepts to live that way (is it ok for us to get used to uncomfortable situations?). That is until she meets Henry, the only person in the whole world who remembers her. Throughout the entire book, V.E. Schwab allows us to see Henry's and Addie's POV. They get to know each other and spend time together. At the same time, the book takes us between the future and the past. To get to know them a little more. That confused me a bit since I had to go back and forth to see in which year the plot was happening.
I felt that, in a way, each character had their highs and lows. We saw how life was perfectly imperfect for them. Nonetheless, they helped each other to overcome their inner demons.
Maybe an unpopular opinion: Henry's personality was a bit annoying. He was condescending to Addie. Once they had dinner and Addie gets up without paying the bill –because it's her reality she's used to– and Henry gets mad at her). He was constantly sad and complained a lot. And I understand he had depression (or at least that's the impression he gave me). But he did not allow himself to get help and only retreated further into his inner world.
I'm not sure if what Addie and Henry had was even real. Perhaps they were together because of the circumstances in which they coincided. I felt that their relationship was a bit forced. They were together because they both needed something from the other. Addie wanted to be remembered by someone, while Henry wanted to be seen, for who he was.
On the contrary, her dynamic with Luc was MUCH MORE interesting. I felt it was a bit of an enemy to lover trope. Even though their relationship was toxic (which could be in many of the book relationships we have read), I genuinely think he cared for her. She understood him on a more intimate level and was not scared of that.
Overall I loved this book. It taught me that we can actually live and be resilient at the same time, and not only survive life. We need to become our heroes, but also, if we need help, we should ask for it or allow it when people offer it to us.
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