Truthfully, I’ve finished The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab in a pretty long time than usual — almost three weeks.
But it’s not because I don’t enjoy the book. It’s because I took highlights and notes while reading it on my kindle. In the end, I made 346 of them in total!
My notes have been posted in the previous article about the summary of the book. And in this post, I have picked several highlights for you to read it.
So below are my favorite The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue quotes with page numbers.
The Best The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Quotes
- What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind? She has learned to step between the thorny weeds, but there are some cuts that cannot be avoided—a memory, a photograph, a name. (Page 15)
- If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else’s hearth. (Page 31)
- What she needs are stories. Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget. (Page 35)
- It would be years before Henry learned to think of those dark times as storms, to believe that they would pass, if he could simply hold on long enough. (Page 97)
- If you only walk in other people’s steps, you cannot make your own way. You cannot leave a mark. (Page 179)
- “You can’t make people love you, Hen. If it’s not a choice, it isn’t real.” (Page 290)
- “Semantics may seem small, Adeline, but the power of a deal is in its wording.” (Page 351)
Relatable Quotes from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
By 2014, Addie is more than 300 years old. But really, it’s just a number for her, she’s still can be a relatable character.
I think the author did a great job at exploring her. I’m aware of her hobby, faith, anxiety, and desire. As a reader, I feel that I understand her completely.
But if you want to understand the characters more, you may discuss the book with your friends with these The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue book club questions.
- Toby’s never been one of those songwriters who prefer to work under the influence. (Page 18)
- At home he is a quiet man, committed to his work, but on the road he begins to open, to unfold, to speak. (Page 24)
- There is a rhythm to moving through the world alone. (Page 35)
- I do not want to belong to anyone but myself. I want to be free. Free to live, and to find my own way, to love, or to be alone, but at least it is my choice. (Page 46)
- Why, a world without reading, I cannot fathom it. (Page 167)
- “Pain can be beautiful,” he says, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “It can transform. It can create.” (Page 232)
- She has always been a reader, and she cannot think of anywhere better than a bookstore. (Page 244)
- Addie looks up at the panels of stained glass, the images little more than ghosts without the sun to light them. She wanted to believe. She listened, and waited to hear His voice, to feel His presence, the way she might feel sun on her shoulders, or wheat beneath her hands. The way she felt the presence of the old gods Estele so favored. But there, in the cold stone house, she never felt anything. (Page 312)
- After all, life seems very long sometimes, but he knows it will go so fast, and he doesn’t want to miss a moment. (Page 438)
Art Mentioned in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
I was a bit surprised at how many arts or pop-culture references the author mentions in the book. But it actually makes sense because Addie is a bookworm and Henry is a bookstore clerk. They were truly a perfect couple…until it wasn’t.
- It was new then, but it is broken in now, shows its wear in all the ways she can’t. It reminds her of Dorian Gray, time reflected in cowhide instead of human skin. (Page 21)
- Addie sifts through his records, puts on a pressing of Billie Holiday. (Page 58)
- Like Peter, in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. There, at the end, when Peter sits on the rock, the memory of Wendy Darling sliding from his mind, and it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does. (Page 77)
- The shop bell chimes again, announcing a new customer as Addie reaches the Classics. Beowulf. Antigone. The Odyssey. (Page 86)
- According to Robbie, it’s loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, if someone had filed Shakespeare’s cadence smooth, and cranked up the saturation. (Page 93)
- It’s Hitchcock, she wants to say, but instead she whispers, “It’s worth it, I promise.” (Page 176)
- There’s a poppy on the cover, not a rose, and there’s nothing particularly sad or lovely about the life of Thomas Cromwell, even if the writing is beautiful, poignant. (Page 245)
- Atkinson. Life After Life. A book about life and death and history, sad and lovely, set in England, with a twinned rose on the cover. (Page 246)
- It is Shakespeare’s Tempest. Now and then she trips over the playwright’s cadence, the style strange, English rhyme and meter still foreign to her mind. (Page 309)
Wrapping Up
I’m still in awe of how beautiful V.E. Schwab’s writing style is in this book. There’s a rhythm in her sentence that makes it read like a poem without vagueness. Don’t you agree by reading from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue quotes I picked above?
If by reading this post you fancy yourself to experience the story yourself, you can buy the book on Amazon or Bookshop (US).
But first, make sure to check the age rating for the book here.
