Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

5 reviews

cassandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Gaslighting, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment and Fire/Fire injury

stephanielee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

When I read this book, I thought it was going to be about a father looking for his son in the woods. It is that but it is so much more. There are a lot of content warnings but they are not always as they seem. This is the story of Apollo and his wife Emma. They are in love and living in NYC and start a family. Things seem perfect until one day everything seems to change. Then there are some really awful and freaky things that happen. Now Apollo is searching for Emma and trying to understand what happened. He uncovers some strange things that seem too fantastical to be real but what if it were? I feel like this is a blend of real life and some mystical/magical stuff that doesn't start to make a ton of sense until you are almost to the end. It is worth the wait as you find some of the horrors you thought to be true are actually quite different. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death

sarah984's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Alcohol, Confinement, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Police brutality

thehmkane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

HOLY. SHIT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Police brutality, Animal death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexism, and Stalking

madarauchiha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

I read LaValle's 'The Ballad of Black Tom' in an anthology I don't even recall the name of. And I was hooked. Instant fan, I'll follow LaValle's works ANYWHERE.

PHEW. Jeus christ. This was so much. It was a mildly slow, meandering start, but it benefited from laying down the groundwork. Everything you'd want to know gets answered in a satisfactory way. It does cover some heavy topics like child abuse, but it's not over the top graphic, romanticized, or gorey. 

The book summary is a lil misleading in that it's not a straight up fairy tale. It has modern settings, and the fairy tale portions are relayed as just that: fairy tales. It was fantastic when the fairy tale and modern settings come together and you finally get the whole picture. This really needs a reread or three because there are LAYERS to this onion, baby! Please for the love of montressor, read this book!

Content warnings:
minor toxic masculinity, NSFW, alcohol, slavery, 

medium diseases, insects, NSFW, throat trauma, suicide attempt, 
police brutality, murder, gun violence, breast feeding, gun violence, hostage attempt, sharps, 

major breast feeding, house fires, demolition, fire, cyber bullying, unsanitary, body horror, religion christianity, toxic workplace, sexual harassment, child neglect, pregnancy, childbirth, child abuse, domestic abuse, police, unsanitary, antiblack racism, police brutality, murder, child abandonment, mass murder, demolition, misogyny, domestic abuse, stalking, violence, drowning, torture, gore, confinement?, violence, domestic abuse, child death, prisons, child death, animal death, animal gore, police, unsanitary, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism and Slavery