The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Henry reaches his apartment building but is too drunk to climb the steps to the front door. A man who looks like Henry’s brother David sits next to him on the steps. Although it is raining, the man does not get wet. The stranger asks Henry what he wants, coaxing him into agreeing that the thing he desires more than anything else is to be loved by all. This wish, the stranger says, can be granted as long as Henry can pay the price. As a man who spent much of his young adult life studying religion and European literature, Henry knows the price is his soul. Given that he is a non-believer, however, he concludes he has nothing to lose in making the deal.

In 2014, Henry tells Addie about the deal he made with the stranger. Addie concludes that the reason he remembers her is that his curse causes her to see Henry as exactly the man she wants him to be: someone who remembers her. Addie asks how long Henry’s deal lasts, and he answers, “A lifetime.”

Henry watches Addie at the bookstore. He thinks of the books as part of her story: Some of them were directly or indirectly inspired by her brief presence, while others she read when they were first published.

Back in September 2013, Henry wakes up the morning after making the deal with a horrific hangover. He notices a watch on his wrist that he has never seen before. It has one hand that sits just past midnight, and on the back there is an inscription that reads, “Live well.”

Henry answers a knock at his door. It is his sister, Muriel. She tells him he looks good, even though she never complements him on his appearance—and besides, he knows he looks terrible this morning.

After Muriel leaves, Henry goes to his local coffee shop. The barista, a beautiful struggling model named Vanessa, has never given him a second glance nor remembered his name, even though he comes in every week. Today, however, Henry notices a shimmer in her eye as she flirts with him. She even writes her name and number on the bottom of his coffee cup.

Later, at The Last Word, an elderly woman asks for Henry’s help in finding a book, the name of which she cannot remember. Even though he gives her the wrong book, she is enormously grateful. A man comes in looking for a thriller and buys every book Henry suggests. Variations of these exchanges occur all day long.

When Robbie arrives at the store, he throws his arms around Henry and holds him for an inordinately long time. Even Bea is nicer than usual, telling Henry she is happy he dumped Tabitha, even though Tabitha dumped him.

In March 2014, Bea enters The Last Word to rave about an art carnival on the High Line called the Artifact. Addie—who naturally must be reintroduced to Bea yet again—tells Henry they should go check it out.

On the day after the deal in 2013, Henry comes home and packs all of Tabitha’s things into a box. Feeling restless, he goes to the Merchant, where the bartender offers to pay for his drinks. He is approached by a string of young attractive men and women who want to talk to him and take him home, all of them with a subtle fog in their eyes. This is when Henry realizes that the stranger from the previous night was real.

At first, Henry loves the power and validation he feels in his new life. He points out that in many cases, the love people direct toward him is not sexual in any way. Straight men and lesbians like Bea view him as a beloved brother or best friend; elderly women may see him as a son. In every case, though, there is the milky glint in their eye, which disturbs him.

At The Last Word, Bea tells Henry about her new thesis project: an investigation into three portraits spanning multiple countries and two centuries that appear to be of the same woman with a constellation of seven freckles on her face.

In 2014, after learning Addie’s secret, it dawns on Henry that she is the woman in the three portraits. Addie tells him, “I can’t hold a pen. I can’t tell a story. I can’t wield a weapon, or make someone remember. But art, art is about ideas. And ideas are wilder than memories” (261).

At his first family dinner since making the deal, Henry notices that his parents and siblings have never been kinder or more encouraging to him. He thinks, “He knows it’s not real, not in the strictest sense, but he doesn’t care. It still feels good” (266).

As Henry and Addie explore the Artifact exhibitions, Henry notices that people’s eyes are more drawn to Addie than himself, which he considers a welcome respite from the usual attention he receives.

A few days after he gets her number, Henry goes on a date with Vanessa. As they flirt, Henry thinks to himself, “[T]here’s no reason to find the right words when there are no wrong ones” (269).

After only a week of dating, Vanessa tells Henry she loves him. Unsure of how to respond, Henry says he needs to shower. When he turns off the water, he smells smoke and comes out of the bathroom to see Vanessa burning the box of Tabitha’s things in the sink. He tells Vanessa she needs to leave, which she does only after extracting a promise from Henry that he call her.

The following month, Henry watches a movie with Robbie and Bea. When Henry goes into the kitchen to make popcorn, Robbie follows him and kisses him. Although Henry is still attracted to Robbie, he restrains himself. His old relationship with Robbie was built on real affection and chemistry, but this new attraction isn’t real at all, he concludes.

A few weeks later, Henry runs into Tabitha at the new coffee shop he frequents since the Vanessa incident. She tells him she loves him and that she made a mistake in rejecting his proposal. Though tempted, Henry sees the faint fog in her eyes: “And he knows that, whoever she sees, it isn’t him. It never was. It never will be” (279).

In 2014, Henry and Addie continue to explore the Artifact exhibits. Henry concludes that Addie is better than any drink or drug.

Back in 2013, Henry runs into his old PhD adviser at Columbia, Dean Melrose. Despite the fact that the dean threatened to kick Henry out of school if he didn’t voluntarily leave, Melrose now offers Henry a tenured teaching position in the theology school. With the dean unwilling to take no for an answer, Henry says he will think about it.

At The Last Word, Henry opens a bottle of whiskey and realizes he still wants to drown his emotions through substance abuse, albeit for different reasons than before.

At a New Year’s Eve party as 2013 rolls over to 2014, Henry extricates himself from the embrace of an incredibly handsome man. He sits in the cold on the fire escape, wishing he had some anti-anxiety pills. Bea finds Henry and tells him he is her best friend. Although he knows her feelings aren’t real, he cherishes them anyway.

Just when Henry resigns himself to the parameters of the deal, he meets Addie. He recalls, “For the first time, he feels seen” (292).

At the Artifact in 2014, Addie and Henry visit the last exhibit, titled “YOU ARE THE ART.” Patrons are invited to spread neon paint all over the walls. When Addie tries, the paint fades as soon as she draws it. Henry tells her to guide his hand instead, and when she does so, the paint stays. This is a revelation for Addie. She uses Henry’s hand to write her name, and then with a dazzling intent of purpose, she pulls him to the subway and then to his apartment. There, she gets out a notebook and pen, puts her hand over Henry’s, and begins to write. She says, “This is how it starts” (294).