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gruezelda_reads 's review for:
The Changeling
by Victor LaValle
3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the first half or so of this book. It was a little difficult to read a few scenes due to content. The story opens with a short and charming history of Apollo's parents, then continues to give us glimpses into how Apollo's life was affected by his very few memories or impressions of his father. Soon enough Apollo finds Emma and is about to become a father himself. Throughout this the story almost has a fairy-tale rhythm to it, though everything about the setting and the people are thoroughly and believably rooted in the present. I enjoyed it - especially his son's birth - and I even enjoyed the subtle suspense you could sense building throughout, knowing the reader is being led to a much darker place.
Even after the trauma of the event that you knew was coming because you read the synopsis on the cover, I found Apollo's story moving even as the suspense kept building and more and more questions seemed to be raised. When it came to the resolution of the story, however, I often found it to be... just weird. A number of questions were raised for me that were never really satisfactorily answered, and what I think was meant to be a kind of magical realism just felt... unreal. Just such an odd combination of everyday life in NYC and myth and folklore that did not mesh very well at all. Still overall an enjoyable ride into a genre I don't spend much time with.
Even after the trauma of the event that you knew was coming because you read the synopsis on the cover, I found Apollo's story moving even as the suspense kept building and more and more questions seemed to be raised. When it came to the resolution of the story, however, I often found it to be... just weird. A number of questions were raised for me that were never really satisfactorily answered, and what I think was meant to be a kind of magical realism just felt... unreal. Just such an odd combination of everyday life in NYC and myth and folklore that did not mesh very well at all. Still overall an enjoyable ride into a genre I don't spend much time with.