Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Changeling

My words could never describe the enchanting narrative that Victor LaValle has created with The Changeling.

This story is so many things: the lengths a mother and father would go to protect their child, the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love (and ourselves), generational curses/trauma, and a critique of internet social norms/voyeurism.

LaValle weaves Norse mythology into modern day NYC. So much so, that I’d like to drive up to Forest Hills to see what the trees are hiding. I’d like to take a boat out to the ocean just to see if I can stand where Apollo stood.

There is a nod to Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in The Castle,” so small that you might not even catch it.

I’m looking forward to watching the TV show and to reading more books written by LaValle.

P.S. This is my favorite book now.

Content Warnings

jialianyang's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beautiful tale that quickly snowballs into a haunting, mysterious, sad, and horrifying thriller. Survivors birthing and parenting survivors, a book man seeks vengeance, a mother fights to find her real child, all of these are just snapshots of the twists and turn in this gripping book. It's won many awards for good reason.

Content Warnings

adiajamille's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, because you never really knew where you were headed next. The story is thrilling, heartbreaking, engaging, mysterious, and so much more. It touches on the real life and how we engage with people when they’re at their lowest, and makes the fantastical horror even more terrifying by how easily it all started, in a realistic way.

Content Warnings

bookbelle5_17's review

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review of The Changeling

By: Victor La Valle

Apollo’s father abandoned by him when he was a child, and he was raised by his mother. As an adult he marries Emma, builds a career as a book collector, and they have a baby. Unfortunately, Emma starts experiencing postpartum depression and believes that their child isn’t their child.

This novel defies genre with its crazy plot that starts as a story about a young black man’s life, but the plot gets crazier as it progresses eventually getting downright fantastical. Both Apollo and Emma are complicated and relatable. I like how Apollo appreciates reading books as well as selling rare books. There’s even a discussion between him and another character how most collectors and sellers of rare books don’t care about reading them, but just making the money. As for Emma, I imagine a lot of women experience postpartum depression that manifests in different ways. I found myself siding with Apollo as we are in his head, but as the story progress I began to question things with Emma and her belief that baby Brian isn’t there. It is one of those stories where you ask yourself is this a supernatural situation or is Emma crazy? Who the antagonist was happened to be one of the twists in the story, so it was a surprise, though there are moments that hint that things aren’t right with a certain character. I liked the exploration of fairytales and what they do for us, the lessons we learn from them, and how today they’ve been sugar coated. There is a cult aspect exploring the idea of why someone might join one and how it can be cathartic for someone experiencing grief. There is also discussion parenting and those parents who constantly post pictures about their children on social media. The story talks about the consequences of that and how it make them targets. The writing is good and immersive, but the story is slow moving until it picks up a little more than half-way through.

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked this book. The writing is really charming (which feels weird to say with this type of content) and the fairy tale atmosphere worked really well for the most part. New York and its history were well utilized. There is one plot point in the middle of the book that I thought was kind of silly

(the part at Rikers - considering later discussions that was all absurdly easy and felt kind of pointless)

but overall fantastic.

Content Warnings