Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan
The premise of this book. Stephen has gone throughout his live being invisible. Elizabeth has just moved to New York City with her mother and brother to escape a traumatic event. They meet and she can see him. Together they find out that there is more to his invisibility and her ability to see him.
There are a few reasons why I purchased this book when I saw it at my local Goodwill store. For one it was on clearance (cheap, cheap, cheap) and David Levithan had co-written it. My interest was piqued. I have read “Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares” so I had a rough idea of what to expect in a book he had co-written in and I was a bit more impressed with this book. The book is written in that each chapter alternates between the p.o.v of Stephen and Elizabeth.
I am not really clear what I assumed this book would be about. There is an invisible boy who meets a girl who sees him. I guess I assumed the book would be contemporary-paranormal romance leaning more on the contemporary side, and I found this to be very much true. The paranormal aspect of it is quite small but also an important piece of the story. Am I wording this right? Continuing on.
I enjoyed reading the book. My favorite character would have been Laurie, Elizabeth’s gay brother. His personality was just so sassy and upbeat that I looked forward to reading about what happened to him. From the moment that Elizabeth and Stephen meet I found the story intriguing. The build up to Elizabeth figuring out her abilities was fascinating, but when I reached half-way through the book and I saw that the main problem was just being introduced I was a bit disheartened.
Typically for standalones when I see problems being introduced near the middle of the book then the wrap-up is typically fast-paced. I usually do not mind this but I just miss the character development that was built up at the beginning. I also have to admit that the insta-love was also not a favorite of mine. While there is some ground work and verbal communication that let Stephen and Elizabeth’s feelings grow I just want there to be a bit more ground work than an overview. Some of these instances are just glanced over too. (Yes, I guess that I’m picky like that.)
Overall I rate this book 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.
I do like the book. The story idea is interesting. The only other book that I have read that had an invisible concept was “Things Not Seen” by Andrew Clements and I adored that book. I guess I was comparing them in a way in my head but they are two completely different books. I loved the first half of Invisibility but I was just not as satisfied with the later half of it as it was again, like I said, a bit fast-paced.
Imagine Afterwords 