Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory and Meaning
Love and Vulnerability
Freedom
Art, Creativity, and Expression
Wonder and Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
New York City. March 15, 2014. Addie thought she’d long since made peace with time. But the hours between Thursday and 5:00 on Saturday, when she will next see Henry, seem to drag on and on. As she waits, she realizes how nervous she is. This is alien to her, since nervousness is for people with futures, and “all she’s had are presents.”
Time and disappointment have hardened Addie, and yet something about Henry compels her to let her guard down and allow herself to be excited at the prospect of seeing him again. Addie allows herself to be vulnerable, and this detail suggests the importance—the necessity—of vulnerability in any real, meaningful relationship.
Themes
Addie finally arrives at The Last Word. Henry smiles when he sees Addie and introduces her to Bea. Bea says “déjà vu,” remarking on how familiar Addie seems. Then Bea observes that Addie looks very Baroque or Neoclassical. Bea is an art post-grad, Henry explains, and she thinks that every face belongs to a different era. Henry’s face is romantic, but Addie’s is oddly “timeless.” Then Henry and Addie leave for their date.
Bea’s observation that Addie’s face is “timeless” is accidentally funny: Bea has no way of knowing how spot-on her observation really is. That Bea is an art student further places art and creativity at the foreground of the narrative.
Themes
Addie asks Henry where they’re going. Henry says it’s a surprise. They take the train to what looks like a laundromat, and Henry explains that it’s actually a speakeasy. Addie is worried, remembering the darkened room she visited a century ago in Chicago, where “the darkness” danced with her. She holds her breath as Henry opens a door at the back of the laundromat. But the place they enter is hardly a speakeasy; it’s just a room with neon lights, arcade games, and a wooden bar. Addie exhales, relieved. Henry procures a bag of coins for the arcade games.
That Addie sees “the darkness,” or Luc, at every turn shows how accustomed she’s become to him appearing just when things are going well for her and ruining everything. In light of this, it’s remarkable that Addie continues to take chances and experience new things, even when experience has shown her that Luc will find some way to spoil everything.
Themes
