Unfortunately, this book taught me a lesson about falling for the premise of a book without knowing how it would be handled. The idea of a woman who was magically cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets was a very enticing one, mainly because I related very strongly to it personally. I’ve felt similarly cursed, that most people don’t remember me when I’m not around. However, reading this book wasn’t meant to be a pity party for myself; rather, I was truly looking for exploration, through a fantasy lens, of the theme of being forgotten. 

I was excited to read about how Addie LaRue would cope with the emotional toll of this curse, and find meaning despite this challenging affliction. Instead, author V.E. Schwab told a different story and explored different themes. First, this is a romance. From the early scene of Addie waking up in the room of someone she spent the night with, advising us of how when he wakes up he will not remember her, the tone of the story is essentially set. We are going to find out about what harm this curse does to a person’s dating life — and apparently it doesn’t do much. What’s worse is the writing of the story is (perhaps expectedly) burdened with romantic cliches. Descriptions are heavy with metaphor. Dialogue is melodramatic. I still don’t know why we care about the eye colour of every man, or the colour of their inevitably curly hair. I find it dubious that all the characters are young, beautiful, and finding themselves. Why don’t we learn about Addie’s attempts at building relationships with other types of people? Did she not spend the day with a new friend who she instantly clicked with? Did she not meet a bartender who reminded her of her long-departed father, that she could have long conversations with every day? Or how about a little girl that she might think of as a little sister that she might leave anonymous gifts for? Why only tell us about the lovers?

When we find out the origin of the curse, we unfortunately learn that it’s really little more than your classic Faustian deal: basically, she wanted something and offered her soul for it. I guess we weren’t going to get that emotional exploration that I was hoping for. Addie was probably going to spend her time hunting for loopholes. In the end, this is a romance, so there are star-crossed lovers involved. If you think about this combination of the Faustian deal and a pair of lovers, I’ll bet you can already predict how this story will play out. (Apologies if that spoils the book for you, but it’s your fault for predicting it.) The other characters and relationships in this story are pretty typical or tropey. I won’t spoil those as well by describing them.

Given how much praise this book has received, I was definitely expecting something much more sophisticated, imaginative and nuanced. Readers of fantasy romance might really enjoy this book. Given the right expectations, I might have also. (Admittedly, back in the day, I did enjoy reading Twilight.) However, for me the biggest sin of this book was probably how it did nothing significant or meaningful with the concept of the forgetting curse (Addie could have been given any number of generic magical afflictions and the story could have played out much the same way). I’m not sure how I would have preferred this story to have gone, or if I’m punishing this book unfairly, but all I know is that sadly this fell far below my expectations.

2.5 stars

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