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
London, England. February 3, 2016. The bookstore is about to close. Addie pauses near the New Fiction, listening to two teenage girls discuss a book. One assumes the author hasn’t put his name on it as part of “a PR stunt.” Addie waits until everyone clears out, and then she picks up the book. The title is written in a cursive script that resembles Henry’s handwriting. Besides his script, there’s no sign of Henry on the book. She opens the book to the dedication page and reads: “I remember you.”
The absence of Henry’s name from the published work also reflects the notion that ideas matter more than memories: Henry doesn’t need his physical name on the book to make his history with Addie legitimate and meaningful—the ideas contained in his book speak for themselves.
Themes
Addie remembers her time with Henry, and a tear falls from her eye. She’s gotten to say hello to so many people, but Henry was her last—and only—goodbye. She pages through the book—her story—which is now “Bigger than either of them, humans, or gods, or things without names.” As she starts to read, she feels the air shift behind her. She turns and sees Luc.
With the publication of Henry’s first novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Henry has simultaneously kept his promise not to forget Addie and helped her to leave her mark on the world. And most notably, the book shows that the meaningfulness of one’s life doesn’t come from their individual accolades, but from the way their life touched others’.
Themes
“Adeline.” Luc holds Addie’s shoulders, and she sinks into him. They fit together, though Addie sometimes wonders if this is only because he is “smoke expanding to fill whatever space it is given.” He looks at her name on the book and calls her “clever,” but he doesn’t seem upset. The world can have Addie’s story, “So long as I have you.” Luc’s eyes are bright green, and Addie can tell he is basking in the glory of “being right” and “in control.” She’s learned to read him so well over the 300 years they have spent together. She’s surprised he hasn’t learned to read her, too. But maybe he only sees what he expects to see in her: an angry woman, or a lustful woman. He has never understood “her cunning, or her cleverness,” and this, Addie knows, is his “grand mistake.”
Addie still acknowledges that she and Luc fit together perfectly, but she’s more skeptical than she was during the early days of their romance. Now, she sees their compatibility not as mutual attraction and commitment, but as Luc’s instinct as a cruel, power-hungry god to “expand[] to fill whatever space it is given.” In other words, she sees him as fundamentally selfish, calculating, and incapable of living with the vulnerability, uncertainty, and selflessness that genuine love requires.
Themes
When Addie first prayed to Luc, he taught her that words matter. When she sold her soul to Luc, she didn’t say “forever, but as long as you want me by your side.” And there’s a big difference between the two. It might take time, but Addie knows that Luc can’t love, and she will study him until she can “prove it.” And then she will make him hate her again, force him to cast her off[,]” and then “she will finally be free.” Addie wants to tell Luc of her plan, if only to see how it colors his eyes. But he’s taught her to be patient, so she keeps her thoughts to herself.
This section lays out Addie’s final act of defiance against Luc: she resolves to show him that words matter, just as he did to her in their original deal. Addie has tricked Luc into believing that he has finally defeated her—that their new deal has promised her soul to him for eternity—when in reality, Addie’s new deal has reversed their roles. Before, the onus was on Addie to prove to Luc that she would not tire of immortality, no matter what suffering Luc threw her way, and Luc held the power to call her bluff and collect her soul. Now, it's up to Luc to “prove” to Addie that his love is genuine and will never fade, and Addie holds the power to call his bluff and reclaim her soul. Thus, though the novel ends on a somewhat unresolved note, it hints at a final act of defiance and determination by its protagonist.
Themes
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