Title: INVISIBILITY
Author: Andrea Cremer & David Levithan
Publisher: Philomel (a Penguin imprint)
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Number of Pages: 358
Source of Book: ARC from publisher NCTE
Stephen has been
invisible for practically his whole life — because of a curse his
grandfather, a powerful cursecaster, bestowed on Stephen’s mother before
Stephen was born. So when Elizabeth moves to Stephen’s NYC apartment
building from Minnesota, no one is more surprised than he is that she
can see him. A budding romance ensues, and when Stephen confides in
Elizabeth about his predicament, the two of them decide to dive
headfirst into the secret world of cursecasters and spellseekers to
figure out a way to break the curse. But things don’t go as planned,
especially when Stephen’s grandfather arrives in town, taking his anger
out on everyone he sees. In the end, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide
how big of a sacrifice they’re willing to make for Stephen to become
visible — because the answer could mean the difference between life and
death. At least for Elizabeth.
First Thought: Two powerful writers teaming up created a beautifully written narrative
on loneliness, loss, being found, and what we do for love.
New girl and invisible boy meet…and it turns out there’s so much more to it in this astonishingly good story. The alternating POVs wove seamlessly together and gave a complete story of an unexpected first love. That continues as the book morphs into a story of an unseen world of magic and curses that is well-developed and deftly explained as to seem completely natural and real.
I appreciated the relationships in this book. Both the romantic, first
love relationship, some secondary romances, and the family dynamics
relationships. Laurie might just be one of my favorite brother
characters I’ve ever read in a book. I’m a sucker for the good, caring
brothers in books – must come from being the only girl with two brothers
myself. Another “character” was the setting itself, which was described in a way that becomes a bit of a love story to NYC as well.
Andrea Cremer and David Levithan move the story forward with brilliant pacing. Just as we get complacent, a wrench is thrown in leading to an unavoidable climax. And in true comic-book style, there is a showdown at the end with the master villain.
Final Thoughts: INVISIBILITY left me contemplating what it really means to be alone or to be lonely…and which would be worse.
