Review: Invisibility

Invisibility

Author: Andrea Cremer & David Levithan
Pages: 358
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
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 Sentence: "I was born invisible."

Review:

Oh, expectations, you turncoats. Always there when I start out, and off who the fuck knows where as I suffer through an uninspired book. Before you start telling me I shouldn't have finished this book, believe me, I know that was an option. However, by the time I was sure I wouldn't like it, I was too far into the book to DNF. Once I've read twenty percent or so, it's happening, and that's all there is to it. Invisibility isn't necessarily a bad book, but it's certainly not what I was hoping for, and will likely only please those who have not yet tired of the standard paranormal romance formula and tropes. Warning: this review will contain some spoilers.

My mistake, and I will admit it was mine alone, was that I assumed Invisibility would be something like Levithan's Every Day. Admittedly, I have yet to read that book, but the premise blows my mind, and, based on friends' reviews and recommendation, I will love it. In that book, I understand that Levithan takes a sort of metaphysical and philosophical look at a unique way of existing, and uses that to reflect on sexuality and love. With Invisibility, I hoped for something similar. What I wanted was the tale of an invisible boy, born that way for no rhyme or reason, and how he comes to find meaning in his existence. Again, this was solely my mental creation. If you had similar hopes, quash them, because Invisibility is just a paranormal romance of magic and curses.

This is why I'm honest.

To give Cremer and Levithan their dues, the world building for the magic is unique, if strange. They did at least expend the effort to come up with something a bit out of the box. The curses, especially, are very cool, and some of them legitimately freaked me out, so that was well done. Unfortunately, their hearts weren't in that aspect of the book, so the world is uncovered and explained through a series of chapter-long infodumps. The teens go to an adult, ask for information, and receive and infodump. Then they go to another adult and repeat the process. It's a dulling way to receive information.

All of that could easily have been saved with well-done characters, though, since characters are where my true love lies as a reader anyway. Sadly, Stephen and Elizabeth are static, with no motivations except the ones given to them by their romance. Elizabeth does have a second motivation in protecting her mother and brother, but, when push comes to shove, she always chooses Stephen over them, so that hardly counts to me.

When two authors team up to write a novel in dual perspectives, I generally assume that they both take a perspective to write. Thus, I'm excited to read books composed in this way, because I love dual perspective done well, and it should be so easy for two separate authors to create two distinct perspectives. Somehow, though, I found that I had a lot of trouble distinguishing whether I was reading an Elizabeth chapter or a Stephen chapter until one of their names was said.

Perhaps, though, Elizabeth and Stephen are so indistinguishable because they lack individual interests and personalities. Very little effort is expended to make them feel like real people. Stephen, for example, has been on his own since his mother's death, but he apparently does nothing but order food to eat, angst, and people-watch. Though he has absolutely no one to talk to, he has no solitary hobbies to do while alone in his apartment. Um, Stephen, may I suggest the internet? I'm in my home alone right now, but, if I break from writing this review, I can go on Twitter and talk to any number of friends. Though no one can see him, he could make a network on the internet, where no one can see your physical form anyway, unless you choose to share a photo. Or, Stephen, how about reading? No wonder he's so miserable, since he doesn't ever do anything.

Then there's Elizabeth, who Cremer and Levithan really tried to make cool and nerdy. Her dream in life is to be a comic book writer and illustrator, both because doing just one is lame to her. Awesome, right? I should totally love this girl. And yet. For all her supposed love of comics, her interest in comic books has been added solely as a plot device by which she can realize her own special powers, which she has been secretly using to create the world in her comic book. When her brother, Laurie, introduces her to another comic book fan, she shows no interest in ever talking to him about them. When the group ends up going several times to a really bitching comic book shop with tons of special editions, Elizabeth never once stops to peruse the selection. Yeah, she's dealing with some serious stuff, but there is no universe where I would be able to walk through a bookstore without noting titles as I walked through or trailing my fingers along the spines. Don't try to connect to nerds with such a shallow attempt, because we do see through that.

The only characters I liked and cared about at all were Laurie, Elizabeth's brother, and Sean, a boy in the building Laurie is crushing on. After her parents' divorce, their mother moved the three of them to New York City to escape homophobia so severe that Laurie was hospitalized with multiple broken bones. The father basically blamed Laurie for provoking the attack, so the dad's obviously scum. Briefly, Laurie is a real plot point with a burgeoning romance, but we never get to find out how that's going for him, and he becomes just a pawn to be manipulated by the bad guy. Even then, Laurie's still more useful than Stephen. Laurie gets shit done.

Worst of all is the romance. First off, we have the invisible, personality-less boy and the pretending-to-be-a-nerd girl. Shock of shocks, she is the only person in the whole wide world who can see him! They touch and feel things. Their connection is made of magic and wondrousness and they fall in love in an unclear amount of time. However, their romance cannot have gone on for long, since she's still a ways from school starting and summer is not that long. Hello, instalove.

It gets better, though! Without establishing any real emotional connection between these two, which would be difficult, since they don't actually have personalities, they declare their love and begin arguing about who gets to die for the other one. Is anyone else sick of reading books about teens who are desperate to sacrifice themselves for someone they've only known for a month? Going back to what I mentioned earlier, Elizabeth is already willing to save Stephen's life over that of her brother's when forced to choose, though, obviously, she'll manage to save both. No, bitch, your brother comes first, not the invisible kid you've known for a month or less. Also, and here's where things really crossed the line, Cremer and Levithan never offer a convincing excuse for why Laurie can see Stephen, since her own powers don't explain shit. It was a convenient way to make them feel like they must have some mystical connection.

The ending did manage to surprise me just a bit, so I will give some credit for that. Cremer and Levithan didn't go for the obvious, easy ending that I'd predicted, so I will applaud them for finally stepping outside of the box, though I would have been grateful if it had happened 340 pages sooner.

If paranormal romances relying heavily on baseless instalove still work for you, by all means procure a copy of Invisibility. If, on the other hand, you were hoping for something deep and meaningful along the lines of Levithan's Every Day, you might want to spare yourself the disappointment. For some samples of the writing and further insights, you can check my status updates on Goodreads, which include a sampling of quotes.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote: "'Lovebirds?' Laurie interjects. 'Can we put off the mating call for a sex? Methinks we have some bigger issues on the table.'"