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Luc/The Darkness/The Stranger
Henry is in his late 20s and working at a bookshop when he meets Addie—and becomes the first person in 300 years to remember her. Having recently dropped out of graduate school, Henry feels aimless and insecure. He’s terrified about wasting his life not knowing what he wants to do or who he wants to be—an anxiety that gains deeper significance once the reader learns that Henry’s deal with Luc means his death is imminent. Henry suffers from “gray” periods of intense sadness that perplex his family. Henry feels especially miserable and unwanted since his girlfriend Tabitha recently rejected Henry’s marriage proposal. After their breakup, Luc interferes with Henry’s suicide attempt and convinces Henry to make a deal with him instead: for one year, Henry will be loved and desired by all. After that, Henry will give Luc his soul and die. At first, Henry loves being loved and wanted. But he soon realizes that everyone’s love is artificial and meaningless—people only love him because Luc’s power forces them to. Soon, Henry realizes that his deal is really a curse. Everything changes when Henry meets and falls in love with Addie, whose own curse allows her to see Henry objectively. They eventually learn of the other’s deal with Luc, though Henry initially doesn’t tell Addie about his looming death. Eventually, Luc reveals that he purposefully arranged for Addie to fall in love with—and eventually grieve—Henry to teach her that mortal love isn’t worth all the pain and heartbreak it causes. Addie secretly agrees to be Luc’s lover for eternity in order to spare Henry’s life. Losing Addie devastates Henry, but he fulfills his promise to remember her, ultimately immortalizing her story in his first novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Henry Strauss Quotes in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Strauss or refer to Henry Strauss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 4, Chapter 1
Quotes
His heart has a draft.
It lets in light.
It lets in storms.
It lets in everything.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
That’s the only unsettling part, really—their eyes. The fog that winds through them, thickening to frost, to ice. A constant reminder that this new life isn’t exactly normal, isn’t entirely real.
Part 4, Chapter 11
Quotes
“Three hundred years,” she whispers. “And you can still find something new.” When they step out the other side, blinking in the afternoon light, she is already pulling him on, out of the Sky and on to the next archway, the next set of doors, eager to discover whatever waits beyond.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 17
Quotes
“You can’t make people love you, Hen. If it’s not a choice, it isn’t real.”
Part 6, Chapter 11
Quotes
“What is real to you, Adeline? Since my love counts for nothing?”
“You are not capable of love.”
He scowls, his eyes flashing emerald. “Because I am not human? Because I do not wither and die?”
“No,” she says, drawing back her hand. “You are not capable of love because you cannot understand what it is to care for someone else more than yourself. If you loved me, you would have let me go by now.”
Luc flicks his fingers. “What nonsense,” he says. “It is because I love you that I won’t. Love is hungry. Love is selfish.”
“You are thinking of possession.” He shrugs. “Are they so different? I have seen what humans do to things they love.”
Part 6, Chapter 13
Quotes
Addie shakes her head. “You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much.
Part 6, Chapter 16
Quotes
“Nothing is all good or all bad,” she says. “Life is so much messier than that.”
And there in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it.
Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow?
Were the moments of beauty worth the years of pain?
And she turns her head, and looks at him, and says, “Always.”
Get the entire The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue LitChart as a printable PDF.
Henry Strauss Quotes in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Strauss or refer to Henry Strauss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 4, Chapter 1
Quotes
His heart has a draft.
It lets in light.
It lets in storms.
It lets in everything.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
That’s the only unsettling part, really—their eyes. The fog that winds through them, thickening to frost, to ice. A constant reminder that this new life isn’t exactly normal, isn’t entirely real.
Part 4, Chapter 11
Quotes
“Three hundred years,” she whispers. “And you can still find something new.” When they step out the other side, blinking in the afternoon light, she is already pulling him on, out of the Sky and on to the next archway, the next set of doors, eager to discover whatever waits beyond.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 17
Quotes
“You can’t make people love you, Hen. If it’s not a choice, it isn’t real.”
Part 6, Chapter 11
Quotes
“What is real to you, Adeline? Since my love counts for nothing?”
“You are not capable of love.”
He scowls, his eyes flashing emerald. “Because I am not human? Because I do not wither and die?”
“No,” she says, drawing back her hand. “You are not capable of love because you cannot understand what it is to care for someone else more than yourself. If you loved me, you would have let me go by now.”
Luc flicks his fingers. “What nonsense,” he says. “It is because I love you that I won’t. Love is hungry. Love is selfish.”
“You are thinking of possession.” He shrugs. “Are they so different? I have seen what humans do to things they love.”
Part 6, Chapter 13
Quotes
Addie shakes her head. “You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much.
Part 6, Chapter 16
Quotes
“Nothing is all good or all bad,” she says. “Life is so much messier than that.”
And there in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it.
Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow?
Were the moments of beauty worth the years of pain?
And she turns her head, and looks at him, and says, “Always.”
