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Post by gemster on Dec 12, 2021 16:44:16 GMT -5
I’m still re-reading & shocked how much I’d forgotten! Not sure if I’d skimmed more than I thought or it’s the dreaded goldfish brain Though likely a combination of both. But to get us started did you love/like/hate/feel meh about this book or (like me) was it a mixture of all & if so why? What parts did you like/dislike/weren’t that interested in or found hard going? Busy day tomorrow (work/medical/personal) but will be back asap to join in
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sal
This space for rent
Posts: 13,424
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Post by sal on Dec 12, 2021 17:13:30 GMT -5
It's been a while for me, and I probably should go read a plot summary for when we get beyond general impression comments.
Overall, I really liked it, but I wanted to smack her on a multitude of occasions.
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Post by bernelli on Dec 12, 2021 17:54:28 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the story and liked it with some frustrations that ran through the story for me.
Fantasy is one of my least favorite genre's, but this story somehow managed to seem like light-fantasy even though the entire premise is pretty fantastical. Being a teen, dreading the idea of being handed to a man to take care of his kids and his home would be AWFUL. I can almost understand her deal with the devil.
I loved her finding Henry. I did not like her attraction to Luc. It seemed like a no-brainer to me that he would be able to watch her without her knowing and so when she was surprised he knew what she was up to, I found that frustrating.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed this story.
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Post by ccToast on Dec 12, 2021 21:58:19 GMT -5
Overall I liked and enjoyed the book. Probably more than other books I've read lately, I spent time thinking about what I would have done had I found myself in her situation. What would I do with my life if I lived for hundreds of years? How would I cope if no one knew me? Even though I did not always like Addie, I appreciated her adventurous spirit. I did not like her attraction to Luc. This is my feeling also. He had no redeeming qualities that I could see.
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Post by honeybzzzs on Dec 13, 2021 8:04:25 GMT -5
Actually, I liked the story better then the writing. Telling us 86 times that she has “7 freckles, like stars…” drives me crazy. We know that! I’m also not a big fan of stories that jump back and forth from past to present to past again. I agree with ccToast, it did make me think about what it would be like to live 100s of years.
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Post by bumblebuzz21 on Dec 13, 2021 8:55:49 GMT -5
I was really excited for this book, but ended up not loving it. I have the opposite opinion of most people here, I didn't remotely get her relationship with Henry. The only thing she seemed to actually like about him was that he could remember her. Imagine being with someone who wanted to be liked so badly that they actually sold their soul to the devil. I thought she should have totally ended up with Luc. He knew everything she had been through and was hot! This is how it should have ended in true YA fantasy IMO.
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Post by moosishun on Dec 13, 2021 12:46:53 GMT -5
Hahahaha, bumble!
I liked this book because it was surely clever. I liked her survivability and her smarts to get around her "condition". I believe that Luc will never tire of her; however, this love-match skeeved me out a whole lot. Talk about Stockholm syndrome, although I could not really see her with anyone else. And here is the thing with Luc, I think he could not believe her tenacity and found that very attractive, even as he is pretty filthy.
Luc was who she drew. He could take any form. He chose that one. He is death or at least a death-snatcher. And she was attracted to Henry because she had to be, although I think she could see beyond the spell, but I think the spell still held a fragrance for her, if that makes any sense.
Luc is definitely the weaker one of this match even though he wields terrifying power.
How odd is that?
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Post by moosishun on Dec 13, 2021 12:51:25 GMT -5
I thought that the author spun such a good tale and held onto the premise of it really well. I hated the relationship between Addie and Luc and don't think I would read a sequel.
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Post by juliajones54 on Dec 13, 2021 13:01:28 GMT -5
How often are we attracted to the ones who will 'burn' us and be the most unwise choice, but still the most electrifyingly attractive? Anyway, I did like the book and the back & forth didn't bother me as I've read so many sci-fi/fantasy that use this approach. For as long as the book was, I felt that the characters were not fleshed out well, we were given such shallow looks into their lives. I really wanted to know more about Addie's family.
I think our biggest longing in life especially as we get older, is to know that we made a difference and had a purpose in being on this earth. To not leave anything behind when we leave, not even a memory, would be heartbreaking. I thought Addie was very creative in the way she 'intervened' in order to leave traces of herself.
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Post by moosishun on Dec 13, 2021 13:11:40 GMT -5
I forgot how Addie left little pieces of herself all over the place!!! I loved that!
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Post by gemster on Dec 13, 2021 14:52:47 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the whole ‘living forever but no one will remember you’ theme and found it fascinating how she lived, especially back in ye olden days. The trips back into the past were my favourite parts and the time switches didn’t bother me at all.
I did not like the relationship with Luc or that she ended up with him, I don’t think he’ll ever let her go and I don’t think I’d read a sequel either if it had more of him/their relationship in it, that all felt a bit Twighlighty/daft YA romance to me.
The writing style irritated me a bit in parts too, I’m not into overly descriptive books or waffle. This was by no means as bad as some but yes agree things like banging on about freckles over and over were rather unnecessary.
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suby
This space for rent
Posts: 10,376
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Post by suby on Dec 13, 2021 21:27:33 GMT -5
When I had heard the premise of the book, I expected her to just sail through life not touching anything, never staying anywhere. I was surprised to see her trying to form relationships and establish patterns.
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Post by gemster on Dec 14, 2021 4:34:14 GMT -5
Day 2
Quite a few of us seemed to be fascinated by the ‘live forever’ theme of the book, if you were offered the chance to live forever (no devils involved!) would you take it?
If you were offered the chance to be invisible (either in the way Addie is in the book or completely invisible as in no one can see you) for a short period (day/week/month) would you take that? If so what would you do?
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Post by bernelli on Dec 14, 2021 8:27:41 GMT -5
Well, no, I would not want to live forever. I believe we're on a soul journey "down here", and when that journey is over we return to "the mist" and God, and to our loved ones. Then we come back again to grow our souls further. I don't typically share this because it's personal, but this is why I wouldn't want to live this life forever and ever. I want to reconnect with God and the other souls I'm tied to and then come back over and over if my theory is correct...and if it's not I'd just want my soul to return to God for His plans for me.
It's tempting to consider being invisible, but I would miss the personal connections and being loved is one of my favorite things about this world. Being able to love -- give and receive -- is too important. BUT, if I could do that, maybe I could go around foiling murderers and messing up their plans to hurt people. It seems like a terribly lonely existence.
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Post by bumblebuzz21 on Dec 14, 2021 8:28:07 GMT -5
I am afraid of dying, so I might consider it if I could have a loved one with me. But live forever, more like a vampire where I get to be rich and maybe just have to move away from my little town so the people don't wonder why I haven't aged. The impermanence thing would be SUPER hard for me. I have just recently discovered that about myself due to some personal stuff and I would last like 1 day living like that.
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Post by moosishun on Dec 14, 2021 11:17:42 GMT -5
I think this is what I liked best about this book - it showed how terribly difficult it would be to live forever and not be known. Living forever would be difficult indeed. It's funny but when I walk Groot, I make up all these stories in my head and my latest one is that we have little elves living in our back yard and they like us and let us spin out our aging much slower. Hahahaha! In fact the last convolution of this is that they allow us to regress in age, so that we go back - the trick is knowing when to STOP!! (kind of like Benjamin Buttons). I did this because Big Face, this big mastiff that was supposed to only live 10 years, actually lived 15 and very much enjoyed herself until she couldn't get up any more.
But any how, back to my made-up story - it was tough because you had to find some way to amass wealth and then have some way that people did not recognize that you were supposed to be in your 80's yet presented in your 20's. I was finding that I would have to move often, and I am not such a big explorer and like to stay rooted.
Now, the part that nobody recognized Addie was just so superbly thought up that I thought I had died and gone to heaven with this little wrinkle. THAT WOULD BE HELL, unless I really really screwed up something and then thought - who the heck cares that I made a mess of things because THEY AREN'T GOING TO RECOGNIZE ME anyway. Perhaps I would take more risks and really risk a thorough botching up - perhaps I would be braver than I ever even imagined.
And so that became Addie. She could have just bottled up and died after her first encounter as someone who needed food and money so badly that she would have sex with a stranger, but she grew from it and ended up making this life work for her. If not for the Luc thang, I would really love her. Ha!
But I loved seeing her manipulate the system in her favor.
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Post by peacemama on Dec 14, 2021 11:33:26 GMT -5
I finished this morning. Overall I thought the plot was creative. Luc reminded me of whispers of Lucifer, the TV series, including his owning of clubs. I was curious to see how it ended and thought the author did a fair job of crafting all the pieces together. One of those books that made me reflect and think throughout.
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Post by honeybzzzs on Dec 14, 2021 11:41:42 GMT -5
While it is intriguing to be invisible—a fly on the wall so to speak—I don’t think I’d like it. I think there is a reason that we don’t ‘know all’.
Would I want to live forever? That is also a No. The never ending would get so tiresome for me. While I do want to live to a healthy old age, I am interested in watching the Circle of Life. I take these things in stride.
As far as a sequal to this book, I think it could be similar to the Interview with a Vampire series. This story brought those books to mind as I was reading it.
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Post by peacemama on Dec 14, 2021 11:43:31 GMT -5
Maybe not forever... But I wouldn't mind a bit more longevity.
I keep Smithie's quote on my vision board as a reminder to opt exclusively for choices that align with my priorities/values: I am running out of runway, and I would like my remaining time on earth to be unfettered by regrets of what I might have done when I had the chance.
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Post by gemster on Dec 14, 2021 12:53:48 GMT -5
I would absolutely not want to live forever unless I was young, very attractive and extremely rich, would never age or get sick and had at least one companion that I loved being with, preferably a group or family like in cheesy old Twighlight even then I’m not sure as I feel like there are bad things coming and I would not want to live in a post apocalyptic world no matter how good looking I am. I’m not actually scared of dying, in fact I’d like to go reasonably young as long as it’s quick and I don’t know anything about it, I’d much prefer that to living into very old age suffering mentally and physically. I don’t have kids though which probably influences my thinking on that. It might be fun to be properly invisible for maybe a few days but not sure what I’d do, I’d like to somehow get my hands on lots of money but not in a way I was stealing from or hurting anyone else (unless it was some greedy corporation or corrupt billionaire) so thinking about it I’d probably be better off doing a little time hop into the future for a few days then gambling/playing the lottery when I come back. I’d also love to travel back in time and see/experience some of the things that fascinate me for myself but only if I could not be killed or hurt in anyway - as I imagine the Russian front in WW2 might be somewhat dangerous
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Post by bernelli on Dec 14, 2021 14:40:27 GMT -5
One thing that I thought about while I was reading that Bumble reminded me of is -- the clothes. Addie got to live for years through lots of cool clothing trends, and stay her youthful self (with her youthful figure).
How cool would that be to get to try out all the new trends!?
I could get into that. I'm not a fashion diva, but I do love a fun outfit!
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Post by ccToast on Dec 14, 2021 23:47:20 GMT -5
I would not want to live forever by myself, whether I was invisible like Addie or if I were to stay young and healthy but had to watch my loved ones age and die. If I could have some kind of guarantee that I could live a full, long life in relatively good health, I would take that.
Being truly invisible could be quite interesting for a short while. There are many times that I have thought that I would like to be "a fly on the wall" and observe others unnoticed. I could satisfy my curiosity about anything and be as nosy as I'd like! Being invisible could mean that I could have access anywhere–the halls of power where big decisions are made or in any show or performance (without a ticket!). I could snoop through FBI or police files and find out exactly what happened in Roswell.
I wouldn't want to be invisible forever. I am not as clever as Addie, and it would be too lonely to do it for long.
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Post by juliajones54 on Dec 15, 2021 0:20:00 GMT -5
I wouldn't want to live forever but I do hope I make it into my 90's so I can be here to see my grandchildren into early middle age and my children into old age. Also, I want to see if we make it to Mars and what mysteries of the Universe can be solved. I'm not afraid of dying but I get very sad when I think of missing out on life and all of the new discoveries I won't get to know about.
I'm having a hard time thinking of a personal advantage to being invisible unless it was combined with time travel. I would love to pop in and out of historical events without being seen.
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Post by gemster on Dec 15, 2021 3:32:59 GMT -5
Day 3 Characters - this is a bit of a tough one as there are only really 2 constant characters in the book & I think we’ve already aired opinions on Addie & Luc but feel free to share more thoughts about them if you have any. What about Henry, any particular feelings or thoughts about him? Is there anyone else that Addie interacted with either in the past or present who stood out or stuck in your mind for any reason?
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Post by ccToast on Dec 15, 2021 6:36:44 GMT -5
I do hope I make it into my 90's so I can be here to see my grandchildren into early middle age and my children into old age. This is top of mind for me every day. My parents died when my children were young, and I get so sad thinking about how my parents didn't get to see what incredible people my now-adult children are becoming. I would like to see my children well into their later adult years and get to know any future grandchildren. Addie's parents weren't able to see what a clever, resourceful woman she became, which made me feel my own sadness. (Not that her mother, a product of her own time, would have valued these qualities.) I suppose that's why Addie needed to survive into the future, so she could be the person she was meant to be.
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