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micksland's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2 stars
Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I have a very high tolerance for darkness and violence in literature, with the caveat that the subject must be handled reasonably well. If an author is going to write a novel set in 21st century New York City, I do expect some modern sensibilities from my characters.
SPOILERS for the first 1/3 of the novel (I won't spoil the ending, though).
Emma Valentine, wife of the protagonist Apollo Kagwa, suffers from postpartum depression after the birth of her child. In a violent rage, she breaks Apollo's jaw with a hammer and disappears. He spends weeks in the hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery. Later in the novel, he seems to forget all about this incident and forgives her without ever mentioning it.
Can you imagine the critics' reactions if the genders had been reversed? What is going on here? (And that's not even getting into the novel's treatment of postpartum depression, which I also found to be pretty lacking)
Despite the fact that there IS an engaging plot and a mystery to solve here, I could never get past the fact that this horrific episode of violence was just dropped by the narrative, never to be examined critically or spoken of by the characters again. This is a massive miss by the author in what could have otherwise been a very emotionally charged story, had the material been handled in a more subtle or realistic way.
Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I have a very high tolerance for darkness and violence in literature, with the caveat that the subject must be handled reasonably well. If an author is going to write a novel set in 21st century New York City, I do expect some modern sensibilities from my characters.
SPOILERS for the first 1/3 of the novel (I won't spoil the ending, though).
Emma Valentine, wife of the protagonist Apollo Kagwa, suffers from postpartum depression after the birth of her child. In a violent rage, she breaks Apollo's jaw with a hammer and disappears. He spends weeks in the hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery. Later in the novel, he seems to forget all about this incident and forgives her without ever mentioning it.
Can you imagine the critics' reactions if the genders had been reversed? What is going on here? (And that's not even getting into the novel's treatment of postpartum depression, which I also found to be pretty lacking)
Despite the fact that there IS an engaging plot and a mystery to solve here, I could never get past the fact that this horrific episode of violence was just dropped by the narrative, never to be examined critically or spoken of by the characters again. This is a massive miss by the author in what could have otherwise been a very emotionally charged story, had the material been handled in a more subtle or realistic way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism
lancemama's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Racism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Child death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
3.75 rounded up!
this book was very inventive and the prose was very nice, but frankly at least 50 pages could be shaved off. the pacing was strange and in general la valle shoved far too many separate stories into this book. what started as whimsical and fresh ended up feeling random and cobbled together
Apollo’s story was interesting, but the parts about his father and the truth of what happened to him felt like a completely separate book. he could easily have just been a deadbeat that never showed up, and the dreams added absolutely nothing to the story. the blurb on the back of the book makes the father dreams seem related to the plot, but they aren’t at all. going in with that expectation may be why I was so annoyed when they turned out to be entirely unmagical. the mom randomly revealing this truth after he gets home from jail made 0 sense? why not when he had his baby? why not right after baby Brian died? it felt shoehorned in. same with Emma’s crazy ass family history. Kim’s confession was so out of place.
The technological aspect of this book felt so stilted next to the island, the trolls, etc. there were just way too many strands to follow and far too neat of a wrap up when so much happened in this book. an entire island of witches and a monster and then a … 4chan guy? and said 4chan guy is descended from Norwegian guy who fed his baby to a troll? and now the troll lives in Queens? And the 4chan guy charges people to watch the troll eat kids????? it started to feel like the author got the sub-plots from an online random prompt generator
instead of the parts above, I would’ve liked more time in Emma’s head. how did she feel being called crazy for something she knew was happening? how did she become “a witch”? how did she survive in the woods with the troll there? why did she attack Apollo to kill the changeling instead of just knocking him out to do it? what was she planning to do with the troll if Apollo hadn’t come? how did the island start? some things felt unexplored, while others (like Apollos dad) were overexplained.
that being said, i can’t say I didn’t enjoy this read! the first 200 pages were a treat, and even when things took a turn for the absurd, i still liked reading it despite the confusion. la valle’s prose and narrative voice are lovely, I think the plotting and pacing was just a huge bust for me. I’d like to try more of his work, because there was some real shine here amongst the confusion
this book was very inventive and the prose was very nice, but frankly at least 50 pages could be shaved off. the pacing was strange and in general la valle shoved far too many separate stories into this book. what started as whimsical and fresh ended up feeling random and cobbled together
Apollo’s story was interesting, but the parts about his father and the truth of what happened to him felt like a completely separate book. he could easily have just been a deadbeat that never showed up, and the dreams added absolutely nothing to the story. the blurb on the back of the book makes the father dreams seem related to the plot, but they aren’t at all. going in with that expectation may be why I was so annoyed when they turned out to be entirely unmagical. the mom randomly revealing this truth after he gets home from jail made 0 sense? why not when he had his baby? why not right after baby Brian died? it felt shoehorned in. same with Emma’s crazy ass family history. Kim’s confession was so out of place.
The technological aspect of this book felt so stilted next to the island, the trolls, etc. there were just way too many strands to follow and far too neat of a wrap up when so much happened in this book. an entire island of witches and a monster and then a … 4chan guy? and said 4chan guy is descended from Norwegian guy who fed his baby to a troll? and now the troll lives in Queens? And the 4chan guy charges people to watch the troll eat kids????? it started to feel like the author got the sub-plots from an online random prompt generator
instead of the parts above, I would’ve liked more time in Emma’s head. how did she feel being called crazy for something she knew was happening? how did she become “a witch”? how did she survive in the woods with the troll there? why did she attack Apollo to kill the changeling instead of just knocking him out to do it? what was she planning to do with the troll if Apollo hadn’t come? how did the island start? some things felt unexplored, while others (like Apollos dad) were overexplained.
that being said, i can’t say I didn’t enjoy this read! the first 200 pages were a treat, and even when things took a turn for the absurd, i still liked reading it despite the confusion. la valle’s prose and narrative voice are lovely, I think the plotting and pacing was just a huge bust for me. I’d like to try more of his work, because there was some real shine here amongst the confusion
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Vomit, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
jaqxun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Blood, Death, Torture, Gun violence, and Murder
saltedsnail's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
This novel absolutely blew me away. I’d been meaning to pick it up ever since I’d read Ballad Of Black Tom some years back but kept managing to put it off. There was a moment, about half way through, where I sat back and went “damn, this is going to be my favorite book this year and we’re not even a month in yet.” LaValle’s prose is just so utterly captivating and beautiful - he truly is capable of writing a contemporary fairy tale. He took his sweet time through the start of the novel and yet not a moment felt wasted - the patience only serves to devastate you.
The Changeling manages to do so many things at once - it’s a thriller, it’s a masterful piece of magical realism, it’s a modern fairytale, it’s a who-dun-it, it’s the hero’s journey, it’s the most beautiful love story ever told.
The only fault I could find is that I wish it were even longer. The patience LaValle committed to getting to the “plot” of the book felt so earned. The last half felt somewhat rushed in comparison, especially the climactic ending. I really appreciated the commitment to not explaining away things - fairytales do not have to explain themselves - so I don’t wish LaValle had spent more time flushing out the lore of north brother island or kinder garten or anything like that, but rather that we’d spent as much time with the emotional realities of Apollo and Emma in the last few chapters as we had the first. Regardless, I’ll be thinking about this story and the way that it was told for a very long time.
The Changeling manages to do so many things at once - it’s a thriller, it’s a masterful piece of magical realism, it’s a modern fairytale, it’s a who-dun-it, it’s the hero’s journey, it’s the most beautiful love story ever told.
The only fault I could find is that I wish it were even longer. The patience LaValle committed to getting to the “plot” of the book felt so earned. The last half felt somewhat rushed in comparison, especially the climactic ending. I really appreciated the commitment to not explaining away things - fairytales do not have to explain themselves - so I don’t wish LaValle had spent more time flushing out the lore of north brother island or kinder garten or anything like that, but rather that we’d spent as much time with the emotional realities of Apollo and Emma in the last few chapters as we had the first. Regardless, I’ll be thinking about this story and the way that it was told for a very long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, and Grief
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death
jialianyang's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Gore, Blood, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Body horror
Minor: Police brutality
jsteighn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Murder, Grief, Violence, Mental illness, and Stalking
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Blood
kathygotpugs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
minaopal's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Murder, Mental illness, Blood, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol