Book Review: Invisibility

Invisibility
by Andrea Cremer, David Levithan
Release date: May 7th 2013
Published by: Penguin

Synopsis:

A magical romance between a boy cursed with invisibility and the one girl who can see him, by New York Times bestselling authors Andrea Cremer and David Levithan.

Stephen is used to invisibility. He was born that way. Invisible. Cursed.

Elizabeth sometimes wishes for invisibility. When you’re invisible, no one can hurt you. So when her mother decides to move the family to New York City, Elizabeth is thrilled. It’s easy to blend in there.

Then Stephen and Elizabeth meet. To Stephen’s amazement, she can see him. And to Elizabeth’s amazement, she wants him to be able to see her—all of her. But as the two become closer, an invisible world gets in their way—a world of grudges and misfortunes, spells and curses. And once they’re thrust into this world, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how deep they’re going to go—because the answer could mean the difference between love and death.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this, but I admit that the summary sounds like the typical supernatural with cliché romance. It should’ve been the red light for me, but this came highly recommended by a friend who I borrow books from. We were supposed to fangirl together, but after reading I definitely need to pass on the fangirling part.

Stephen was born invisible, like he literally came out of his mother and nobody was able to see him. Creepy, right? Later, we learn that it’s because of a curse that was actually put on her mother by his grandfather. He lives in an apartment building alone. His mother is dead and his father has a new family, but still supports Stephen financially. Elizabeth and her family, on the other, has just moved to the same apartment as Stephen. When they met; surprise, surprise! She could see him. The first and only person ever to be able to see Stephen. And then they fall in love.

It seems weird that Stephen managed to live all alone in an apartment building for so long without anyone noticing something weird about him. Even when it was explained that everything he needed, he took to the Internet to get, like ordering groceries online or online school, it still sounded way too easy and convenient.

The beginning of the book actually looked promising and I really thought that I was gonna like it but I was wrong. As the story progressed, I found myself seriously trying hard not to facepalm. And I couldn’t feel any sort of attachment towards the characters. The only one that came close was Laurie, Elizabeth’s younger brother, who’s gay. He was the only rational character. He tries to be funny most of the time but also fails most of the time. The others are just flat-out boring. I think the only unique part about this book is Stephen’s invisibility but then his situation can also be paralleled to other supernatural YA wherein the guy meets a one-of-a-kind girl who is the first ever person who can do something that no one has ever done to him in a supernatural kind of way. I like that there’s a Tiny Cooper reference here though but still, I’m sad to say that Invisibility just doesn’t cut it for me.

Rating: 2/5 stars