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.
(Goodreads)
Apparently, this book was supposed to be an absolutely amazing book. And my god, was it mediocre. The book is about Addie LaRue, who prayed to the wrong gods and was cursed to be forgotten. Which honestly is already pretty sad; she's been cursed to be forgotten in every way possible. Nothing she does can leave a mark on the world and its history. Except she finds a way around this rule by inspiring artists, and they create something inspired by her. They don't know she inspired them, but she lives on as the unknown woman.
Interesting plot, boring execution. So she meets this young man, can't even remember his name it was inconsequential, and he remembers her. For the first time in centuries, and they fall in love. He, too, made a deal with the same god as Addie, and he wants to be desirable. Desirable and wanted by all, but he gave up his life and has one year to live. So begins the second part of the book. This part is all about Addie telling this dude about her life over the years leading up to this super-secret thing that she has been dancing around. I thought it would be more important, but it wasn't; she had an "affair" of sorts with the god who absolutely craves her. Nothing fancy, and yet it was played out like this horrible thing.
The book didn't have any movement; it had nothing really happen. It was like a memoir that was meant to be thought-provoking but fell short. It came out very bland and flat. I liked parts of it, like how we should romanticize our lives more, that every day is a gift that we should treasure. The memories we make are so important, and how we can affect others' lives in the smallest ways. I loved that sentiment, but I really didn't like how it played out in the book.
The book ended with Addie essentially giving up her freedom so that her Dude could live his life, no more curse. And even he slowly started to forget what Addie looked like. But he had enough time to write a book about her life. Sweet but meh ending.
Until next time readers <3 Kat
