The Changeling: A Novel

Fairy tales, like their contemporary antecedent, the Urban Legend, are less about teaching children moral lessons and more about the furtive expression of society’s deep-seated fears. Victor Lavalle’s extraordinary fantasy novel, The Changeling, is a modern day fairy tale that casts a pretty wide net - tackling the fears of 21st Century parents, racism, the war of the sexes and techno-paranoia.

Apollo Kagwa, a rare book dealer in New York City, has been plagued by disturbing dreams since his father left when he was small. As he and his wife Emma start their own family, he makes it his mission to be the kind of father he never had. But shortly after the birth of their son, Emma begins to exhibit strange behavior that culminates in a horrific crime and her subsequent disappearance. With the aid of his friend and fellow book dealer, Patrice Green, Apollo embarks on an epic journey to find his wife and uncover the truth – no matter the cost.

This is an amazing book that works beautifully on so many levels. If you’re just looking for a thrilling, page-turning quest narrative, this has all the right stuff. Its 430 pages are broken into 103 easy to digest chapters and just as I thought I’d put the book down after the end of a chapter, the inevitable cliff-hanger pulled me back for more. Absolutely impossible to put down. Dig a big deeper, though, and you’ll see how cleverly Lavalle mines the classic fantasy tropes to comment on contemporary life. Apollo, our modern day Orpheus, falls victim to both computer malware and racist police officers in his quest to find his Eurydice. And, late in the book, a chilling spiel (delivered by one of the story’s chief antagonists) illustrates how a misguided sense of entitlement, combined with dissatisfaction, blame and bigotry, can lead people to willingly give power to a monster. A damn timely message if you ask me.

The Changeling is scary, exhilarating, funny, stylish and smart. Much like Jordan Peele’s sleeper hit film, Get Out, it makes its point in a unique and entertaining way. Hopefully, both will usher in a new wave of socially conscious material for horror lovers.

Changeling. The title alone should give readers some insight into the story. A changeling is defined as a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy. The center of the story is young Brian, the only child of Apollo and Emma. Apollo carries into his adult life, the pain of his father having abandoned the family when he was just four. He has recurring nightmares, or are they repressed memories, from that abandonment and vows to never put his son Brian in that same predicament. Apollo is determined to be a great and present father.

So when his wife Emma begins to experience signs of a serious case of what seems to be post-partum depression Apollo becomes protective of little Brian and ignores and dismisses Emma’s claims of strange pictures and text messages being sent to her phone. Is Emma having delusions? "But the answer is simple. You’re what’s wrong with our family, Emma. You. Are. The. Problem. Go take another pill.” Can Apollo afford to leave her concerns uninvestigated?

The book is paced well even though it clocks in at 448 pages, the prose is engaging and as the story moves from reality into the fantastical it doesn’t lose its grip, maintaining the allure established at the outset. The transition is jarring and the challenge for readers will be how comfortable can one be with this shift into monstrosity and does the novel retain the plausibility that is established early on. There are elements of the story that will give new parents pause, especially in regards to sharing information about your child via social media. Some of these elements are funny, others downright instructive.

Ultimately the pull of this novel rests in family relations, love and secrets that should be shared between parent and child. How far will one go to save their child, spouse? Is the withholding of information from your children always the best route even when the parent is doing so in service to the child? These are pertinent questions the novel raises. An interesting journey through the real world with side trips through phantasy. Safe travels. 3.5 stars. This advanced eBook was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for a review. The book is scheduled for publication June 13, 2017

Anthony Doerr, one of my favorite writers, endorsed this work so I gave it a try. Parts are well written and I understand the nod to a Grimm-like fairy tale (those are pretty creepy, too), but this didn't come together as a whole for me. Certainly, there are themes and questions about fatherhood, marriages and heartbreaking grief. But does there need to be so many weird characters (witches, a Forest Hills troll who eats children, a crazy Norwegian who offers children as a sacrifice to the troll). Aside from the ancillary characters, I was most confused about the main characters, Apollo and Emma. i wish I had listened to my inner voice and deserted this book halfway through.

Abandoned by his father at a young age, Apollo Kagwa has still managed to lead a life that feels blessed. He has a job that he both loves and is good at, a wonderful wife, and now a newborn son. But a few months after the child's birth, Apollo's wife Emma begins acting unusual. Then one night, Apollo awakens in his kitchen, in a daze. His wife has committed a terrible, violent act, and goes missing in the aftermath. Apollo goes temporarily insane and winds up in prison for a few months. When he gets out, he gets word from a man who claims to know where Emma is. But the journey will lead him on a perilous mission through myth, legend, and the horrors just underneath the reality of New York City.

Victor LaValle's THE CHANGELING is a fairy tale for the modern day. A real fairy tale, the kind where people die and the words "happily ever after" are never uttered. It is a book of mystery, magic, and a father's love. It isn't flawless--there are a few plot elements that don't make sense--but the writing and the ambition help overcome them. In this technological age where we spend so much of our lives on electronic devices (he says, ironically, on the internet), we may not be afraid of the things we should be. THE CHANGELING is a metaphor for the world today. But, even more than that, it's just an engrossing, well-written story.

Right from the very first sentence—“This fairy tale begins in 1968 during a garbage strike”—Victor LaSalle signals what he intends to do: weave the magical spell of fairy tales with the gritty reality of present day New York.

Indeed, the opening is grounded in that reality with memorable images: the birth of our protagonist Apollo Kagwa’s child on a stalled A train with no midwives in sight, and a particularly horrific scene later on where Apollo is tethered by a bike lock to a hot water pipe. What has become of his son?

The theme of the book comes down to this: How do we protect our children, when no matter what we do, the world finds its way in. It is about the fears that have been with us since ancient times when we fall short of being the strong protective parent—the father of light and truth.

Archetypal stories are integrated with the one that Mr. LaValle is crafting here. As an antiquarian book dealer, he happens across a first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird (“It’s just a tory about a good father, right? Nobody could live up to it, not in real life…”), and later re-hears the story of Rapunzel (“The old man and woman have a child. But they do nothing to protect it.”) There are also nods to Maurice Sendak’s picture book, Outisde Over There, a story of a baby stolen by goblins.

Gradually, the world he lives in becomes transformed—a land of bewitched forests and spooky legends. LaValle writes, “To believe in only the practical, the rational, rhe realistic was a kind of glamour as well. But he couldn’t enjoy the illusion of order anymore. Monsters aren’t real until you meet them.”

The monsters today might not be fire-breathing dragons; instead, they can be the fervent need to document every minute on social media, that causes you to leave “a trail of breadcrumbs any wolf would follow; then act shocked when the wolf is outside your door”. As the story develops, allegory blends with the true evils of the modern world, and the book can be read on two levels. The novel’s one fault is that it veers into cinematic unreality, striving a little too hard to untether the reader from her comfort zone. Still, there is real humanity in these pages. As LaValle writes, “A great fairy tale tells the truth.” And the truth, in the end, will out.

The Changeling
Mysterious Book Report No. 306
by John Dwaine McKenna

It’s become a tradition. Each October, in observance of All Hallows Eve, the Dia de los Muertos and JDM’s birthday—which is on Halloween—the MBR reviews works of the paranormal, otherworldly and unexplained. The weird, supernatural and bizarre stuff that’s outside of our usual focus on murder, mayhem and mankind’s general savagery. All in good fun of course . . . for no writer of crime fiction could even begin to compete with the actual news of the day . . . which is the strangest of all. We’re kicking it off this year with a fantasy thriller that’s part legend, part immigrant folk tale and part magical reality, all intertwined with a family saga of love, tragedy, loss, violence, revenge and redemption which will so enchant readers that they’ll stay locked-on each and every page until the end.
The Changeling, (Spiegel & Grau/ Penguin Random House, $28.00, 431 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-9594-7) by Victor LaValle, has an edgy quality to it that will cause the parents of small children to look in on them a bit more often as they sleep and double-check, making certain all the doors and windows are locked tight. That’s because the basic premise of The Changeling is innumerable folk tales in which unattended babies are stolen by malevolent ghosts, goblins, ghouls or demons. It’s an age-old theme that’s re-imagined with modern values, as a young book dealer named Apollo Kagwa wants nothing more than to live an ordinary life and be a great father to his newborn son, Brian. Brian’s named for Apollo’s own father, who mysteriously disappeared when Apollo was a child. Life’s good for the Kagwas until Emma Kagwa, in a fit of post-partum depression, commits an unspeakable act of violence . . . and disappears. Until that point in the novel Apollo had been an ordinary man living a regular existence. Now broken-hearted, he sets out on a mission of retribution and revenge, and unwittingly thrusts himself into a fantastic magical realm right in the heart of New York City. It’s a world where illusions are fact, witches are real, and the utterly grotesque has taken shape, form and life. It’s where Apollo Kagwa will learn that “Monsters aren’t real until you meet one,” as the author writes on page 328 before letting his imagination run free as he explores what it means to be a father, a husband and a hero . . . all within the confines of a classic fairy tale. The Changeling is epic in detail, magnificently written and awesome in scope !

The Changeling is an enchanting book where Victor LaValle draws out every detail to slowly bring you along on an emotional journey about the artistry of family. It has moments of beauty, pain, and just enough mystery to keep you curious as to what he will spring out of the hat next.

Apollo is the kind of man many women wish for but always seem to overlook. The guy who deserves a second look because he’s the one who will make you feel like a princess; LaValle has written a truly interesting character in him. Reading about Emma’s birthing experience made me glad I had a C-section. When the author starts describing how Apollo & Emma have their baby living on social media I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. I’m pretty sure we’ve all known these kinds of parents who practically have their kid set up with a marketing team considering all the photos that post across every platform tech has created.

Eventually you get through the parts where this seems like any ‘normal’ book about a woman who was suffering extreme post-partum depression and it shifts into a magical side of the world where everything you know blinds you from seeing the truth. LaValle used early American history and tales from other cultures to create a rich world layered over the one we see every day. Characters out of our imaginations, or nightmares depending on your point of view, come alive to push you through a journey of self-discovery and adventure. The mysticism and old world religious beliefs made for an additional sense of wonder and intrigue.

Then you get to the root of the story, the dangers of social media, but even that is a benign description for the horror we have created. Technology has created online windows into our homes and families where we invite monsters from a Wes Craven movie to come tear up our lives then have the audacity to act outraged when we become victims of our own making.

The true magic of the story isn’t the trolls, witches, ancient pacts or anything else like that, it’s the love that the author was able to bring out of tragedy. It was showing what a parent is willing to do for their kid; that in the end love really does conquer all.

By the way, thanks Mr. LaValle for the advice – there is electrical tape over my computer’s camera to keep out the monsters.

Apollo's father disappeared from his life when he was very young and this feeling of abandonment affected him throughout his childhood and into his adulthood. When he meets a fiesty librarian, Emma, he falls in love with her and the couple marry. For the first few weeks after the birth of their child, life seems perfect. After Emma must return to work after her six week maternity leave, she begins to act strangely. Her sister and Apollo chalk it up to postpartum depression and exhaustion but Emma swears that she is receiving photos taken of her baby, Brian, as texts that are then deleted when she tries to show them to others. After she plans to have Brian baptized without notice to Apollo, Apollo refuses and locks Emma out of their apartment. When he wakes up, Emma has tied up Apollo and is killing the baby. Emma hits Apollo with a hammer and knocks him out and escapes by jumping through a window. In his grief counseling, Apollo hears a story from another woman who claims to receive similar texts that disappear and meets a man who claims to be able to help Apollo find Emma but does the man have ulterior motives?

This book floored me! It was so exciting and kept me up until late at night as I tried to cover more ground in the story. I was simply too excited to sleep while reading this. This book is horror and fantasy and fairy tale all rolled into one. I really enjoyed reading about the origins of old fairy tales like Rapunzel and trolls. The ending was a complete shock for me. The characters were so interesting and felt so real. Apollo is bookish, enterprising, smart and likeable. You feel as if you know him after you read the book. I felt the same was about Emma and even more secondary characters like Patrice. The book held an important lesson for me to be careful with the information that is shared online. This book was exciting from the beginning to the end and I really enjoyed the wild ride. I would recommend this to any reader who enjoys a little magic and "glamour" from their fiction.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in order to write an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It's difficult to review this book, because the action that propels the 'horror' in this novel occurs well into the plot. But you know changeling folklore, right? If you don't, essentially, goblins steal a newborn child and leave a look-alike in the baby's place. The parents then have to trick the baby-goblin into revealing itself.

It's a dark fairy tale. You can't help but wonder how many infants were forced to undergo the changeling tests when this tale was told orally. Maybe they had colic. Maybe jaundice. Maybe a disability.

Apollo knows this folklore from a book his absent father gave him before he disappeared, Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak. This is my favorite Maurice Sendak children's book, and I highly recommend reading it. The illustrations are weird and lovely.

Apollo lives in New York City, and works as a book dealer. Since I'm a book buyer at a used bookstore where tons of book dealers show up daily, I enjoyed reading about a world I was already semi-familiar with. He falls in love with Emma at a library. She's a librarian. Lots of bookish references to enjoy.

While marketed as a horror novel, it's a light one. The tone is easy, Apollo funny and relatable, and while there's a supernatural creature and bloody scenes, I never felt scared. Or alarmed. However, if you have issues with violence against children, you may want to skip this one.

Oddly, I enjoyed reading the first half of this more than the second, even though the main action doesn't start until well into the novel. I enjoyed Apollo's voice and reading about his life and his relationship with Emma, and his experience being a 'new father,' or dads who actually spend time with their kids. Maybe I enjoyed reading the first half since those are things I'm looking forward to experiencing!

I recommend this to anyone who likes folklore mixed into modern settings, and who doesn't mind a little bit of horror. Again, it's not scary horror.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Victor Lavalle is a gifted, driven storyteller, one whose skill borders on the unnerving.

I started The Changeling after avoiding any description other than the publisher's liner notes, fearful of having the impact of his story blunted by a spoiler or a recounting of the storyline. I suggest that you do the same, and that's why I am focusing on the impact of the tale and not the content. The early pages steadily drew me in because of the fluidity of Lavalle's storytelling and the just-perceptible undercurrent of unease ... a seemingly gentle series of tugs, similar to that of the stealthiness of the undertow at one of my favorite beaches where only the adept swim, and do so with all senses on full alert to the potential for risk.

Ninety pages in, I paused, and had my first sleepless night. I was to repeat the cycle of rapt reading followed by unease and heightened alert several more times. This repeated sensation was more than the cool breath at the back of your neck when telling ghost stories late on a summer's night. Lavalle somehow is able to create images and sensations in the mind of the reader that fix on the thoughts and emotions that make our minds quake and our hearts tremble.

With one notable exception, the horror -- for, make no mistake, that is what Lavalle successfully evokes -- occurs off the page, in the reader's mind. It is no less the real for that, and infinitely more disturbing.

Review: THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle

Occasionally one happens upon a book which draws one through the valley of the shadow of death, or in some cases, through hell. Such is the case for me, for example, when I read about Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Era, or accounts of the Holocaust. I wasn't expecting this to be the case when I commenced THE CHANGELING. I was fresh from my one-sitting reading of Victor LaValle's extraordinary rendering of magical realism and Lovecraftian delight, BALLAD OF BLACK TOM. I remained over-the-moon from it, and then THE CHANGELING (published 2017) wrung me inside out, plunged me into the depths of emotional agony {I'd become too jaded, and no story had affected me like this in an extraordinarily long time.} THE CHANGELING made me crawl through the depths, all the time crying "Why? Why? Why?" which is certainly never an efficient response to tragedy, which just is. What carried me through my emotional grieving was the outstanding quality of Mr. LaValle's writing, and the incredible nuances of the story he tells. Victor LaValle is a champion writer, and I shall continue to seek out anything he ever writes.

The publisher generously provided a digital ARC via NetGalley, at no cost or obligation. I opted to review.

The Changeling
Mysterious Book Report No. 306
by John Dwaine McKenna

It’s become a tradition. Each October, in observance of All Hallows Eve, the Dia de los Muertos and JDM’s birthday—which is on Halloween—the MBR reviews works of the paranormal, otherworldly and unexplained. The weird, supernatural and bizarre stuff that’s outside of our usual focus on murder, mayhem and mankind’s general savagery. All in good fun of course . . . for no writer of crime fiction could even begin to compete with the actual news of the day . . . which is the strangest of all. We’re kicking it off this year with a fantasy thriller that’s part legend, part immigrant folk tale and part magical reality, all intertwined with a family saga of love, tragedy, loss, violence, revenge and redemption which will so enchant readers that they’ll stay locked-on each and every page until the end.
The Changeling, (Spiegel & Grau/ Penguin Random House, $28.00, 431 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-9594-7) by Victor LaValle, has an edgy quality to it that will cause the parents of small children to look in on them a bit more often as they sleep and double-check, making certain all the doors and windows are locked tight. That’s because the basic premise of The Changeling is innumerable folk tales in which unattended babies are stolen by malevolent ghosts, goblins, ghouls or demons. It’s an age-old theme that’s re-imagined with modern values, as a young book dealer named Apollo Kagwa wants nothing more than to live an ordinary life and be a great father to his newborn son, Brian. Brian’s named for Apollo’s own father, who mysteriously disappeared when Apollo was a child. Life’s good for the Kagwas until Emma Kagwa, in a fit of post-partum depression, commits an unspeakable act of violence . . . and disappears. Until that point in the novel Apollo had been an ordinary man living a regular existence. Now broken-hearted, he sets out on a mission of retribution and revenge, and unwittingly thrusts himself into a fantastic magical realm right in the heart of New York City. It’s a world where illusions are fact, witches are real, and the utterly grotesque has taken shape, form and life. It’s where Apollo Kagwa will learn that “Monsters aren’t real until you meet one,” as the author writes on page 328 before letting his imagination run free as he explores what it means to be a father, a husband and a hero . . . all within the confines of a classic fairy tale. The Changeling is epic in detail, magnificently written and awesome in scope !

The Changeling is an enchanting book where Victor LaValle draws out every detail to slowly bring you along on an emotional journey about the artistry of family. It has moments of beauty, pain, and just enough mystery to keep you curious as to what he will spring out of the hat next.

Apollo is the kind of man many women wish for but always seem to overlook. The guy who deserves a second look because he’s the one who will make you feel like a princess; LaValle has written a truly interesting character in him. Reading about Emma’s birthing experience made me glad I had a C-section. When the author starts describing how Apollo & Emma have their baby living on social media I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. I’m pretty sure we’ve all known these kinds of parents who practically have their kid set up with a marketing team considering all the photos that post across every platform tech has created.

Eventually you get through the parts where this seems like any ‘normal’ book about a woman who was suffering extreme post-partum depression and it shifts into a magical side of the world where everything you know blinds you from seeing the truth. LaValle used early American history and tales from other cultures to create a rich world layered over the one we see every day. Characters out of our imaginations, or nightmares depending on your point of view, come alive to push you through a journey of self-discovery and adventure. The mysticism and old world religious beliefs made for an additional sense of wonder and intrigue.

Then you get to the root of the story, the dangers of social media, but even that is a benign description for the horror we have created. Technology has created online windows into our homes and families where we invite monsters from a Wes Craven movie to come tear up our lives then have the audacity to act outraged when we become victims of our own making.

The true magic of the story isn’t the trolls, witches, ancient pacts or anything else like that, it’s the love that the author was able to bring out of tragedy. It was showing what a parent is willing to do for their kid; that in the end love really does conquer all.

By the way, thanks Mr. LaValle for the advice – there is electrical tape over my computer’s camera to keep out the monsters.

Apollo's father disappeared from his life when he was very young and this feeling of abandonment affected him throughout his childhood and into his adulthood. When he meets a fiesty librarian, Emma, he falls in love with her and the couple marry. For the first few weeks after the birth of their child, life seems perfect. After Emma must return to work after her six week maternity leave, she begins to act strangely. Her sister and Apollo chalk it up to postpartum depression and exhaustion but Emma swears that she is receiving photos taken of her baby, Brian, as texts that are then deleted when she tries to show them to others. After she plans to have Brian baptized without notice to Apollo, Apollo refuses and locks Emma out of their apartment. When he wakes up, Emma has tied up Apollo and is killing the baby. Emma hits Apollo with a hammer and knocks him out and escapes by jumping through a window. In his grief counseling, Apollo hears a story from another woman who claims to receive similar texts that disappear and meets a man who claims to be able to help Apollo find Emma but does the man have ulterior motives?

This book floored me! It was so exciting and kept me up until late at night as I tried to cover more ground in the story. I was simply too excited to sleep while reading this. This book is horror and fantasy and fairy tale all rolled into one. I really enjoyed reading about the origins of old fairy tales like Rapunzel and trolls. The ending was a complete shock for me. The characters were so interesting and felt so real. Apollo is bookish, enterprising, smart and likeable. You feel as if you know him after you read the book. I felt the same was about Emma and even more secondary characters like Patrice. The book held an important lesson for me to be careful with the information that is shared online. This book was exciting from the beginning to the end and I really enjoyed the wild ride. I would recommend this to any reader who enjoys a little magic and "glamour" from their fiction.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in order to write an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It's difficult to review this book, because the action that propels the 'horror' in this novel occurs well into the plot. But you know changeling folklore, right? If you don't, essentially, goblins steal a newborn child and leave a look-alike in the baby's place. The parents then have to trick the baby-goblin into revealing itself.

It's a dark fairy tale. You can't help but wonder how many infants were forced to undergo the changeling tests when this tale was told orally. Maybe they had colic. Maybe jaundice. Maybe a disability.

Apollo knows this folklore from a book his absent father gave him before he disappeared, Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak. This is my favorite Maurice Sendak children's book, and I highly recommend reading it. The illustrations are weird and lovely.

Apollo lives in New York City, and works as a book dealer. Since I'm a book buyer at a used bookstore where tons of book dealers show up daily, I enjoyed reading about a world I was already semi-familiar with. He falls in love with Emma at a library. She's a librarian. Lots of bookish references to enjoy.

While marketed as a horror novel, it's a light one. The tone is easy, Apollo funny and relatable, and while there's a supernatural creature and bloody scenes, I never felt scared. Or alarmed. However, if you have issues with violence against children, you may want to skip this one.

Oddly, I enjoyed reading the first half of this more than the second, even though the main action doesn't start until well into the novel. I enjoyed Apollo's voice and reading about his life and his relationship with Emma, and his experience being a 'new father,' or dads who actually spend time with their kids. Maybe I enjoyed reading the first half since those are things I'm looking forward to experiencing!

I recommend this to anyone who likes folklore mixed into modern settings, and who doesn't mind a little bit of horror. Again, it's not scary horror.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Victor Lavalle is a gifted, driven storyteller, one whose skill borders on the unnerving.

I started The Changeling after avoiding any description other than the publisher's liner notes, fearful of having the impact of his story blunted by a spoiler or a recounting of the storyline. I suggest that you do the same, and that's why I am focusing on the impact of the tale and not the content. The early pages steadily drew me in because of the fluidity of Lavalle's storytelling and the just-perceptible undercurrent of unease ... a seemingly gentle series of tugs, similar to that of the stealthiness of the undertow at one of my favorite beaches where only the adept swim, and do so with all senses on full alert to the potential for risk.

Ninety pages in, I paused, and had my first sleepless night. I was to repeat the cycle of rapt reading followed by unease and heightened alert several more times. This repeated sensation was more than the cool breath at the back of your neck when telling ghost stories late on a summer's night. Lavalle somehow is able to create images and sensations in the mind of the reader that fix on the thoughts and emotions that make our minds quake and our hearts tremble.

With one notable exception, the horror -- for, make no mistake, that is what Lavalle successfully evokes -- occurs off the page, in the reader's mind. It is no less the real for that, and infinitely more disturbing.

Review: THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle

Occasionally one happens upon a book which draws one through the valley of the shadow of death, or in some cases, through hell. Such is the case for me, for example, when I read about Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Era, or accounts of the Holocaust. I wasn't expecting this to be the case when I commenced THE CHANGELING. I was fresh from my one-sitting reading of Victor LaValle's extraordinary rendering of magical realism and Lovecraftian delight, BALLAD OF BLACK TOM. I remained over-the-moon from it, and then THE CHANGELING (published 2017) wrung me inside out, plunged me into the depths of emotional agony {I'd become too jaded, and no story had affected me like this in an extraordinarily long time.} THE CHANGELING made me crawl through the depths, all the time crying "Why? Why? Why?" which is certainly never an efficient response to tragedy, which just is. What carried me through my emotional grieving was the outstanding quality of Mr. LaValle's writing, and the incredible nuances of the story he tells. Victor LaValle is a champion writer, and I shall continue to seek out anything he ever writes.

The publisher generously provided a digital ARC via NetGalley, at no cost or obligation. I opted to review.

From the first page, I knew I was reading something special. The prose evokes a solidity like polished marble. The Changeling is horror that carries on from the traditions of fairy tales with a reality that slips and slides into surreal zones that have more laiden truth than the real. By the time I finished reading it, I knew it would need some strong competition to supplant it from my very favorite books read this year.
I would heartily recommend it to anyone, but because of the way it drives straight into the fears of new parents, I feel guilty recommending it to people with children as I realize the punch it’s going to land is going to be a devastating one. But this is a book that belongs on everyone's shelf.

Lavalle's The Changeling is oddly enchanting, but in the most bizarre way possible. Throughout the course of delving into the book, I found myself scrambling to stay on top of the sporadic plot, in that the turn of events were not so much plot twists as they were like being bucked off a horse. However, this "bucking off" is precisely what makes the novel interesting, as Lavalle's prevalent elements of magical realism enticed me as the reader to soldier on. And I'm glad I did. Lavalle doesn't merely offer the typical plot twists that most novelists bring to the table. Rather, he offers carefully and strategically placed juxtapositions that will have you at the end of your wits wanting more.

I have picked up this book numerous times since it came out, always putting it back on the shelf and noting it for a possible future read. I would always be dragged in by the cover, but after reading the description, unsure yet intrigued by it being touted as a modern day fairy tale. That's kind of a far stretch in my mind.

I finally gave it a try, but decided to borrow it from the library so if I disliked it, I wasn't wasting my money. If I had purchased it, it surely would have been a waste of money. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, nor was I particularly drawn to any of the characters, only being shown the outer shell.

I didn't hate the first three parts of the book. In fact, by the end of the third, I was quite interested in what came next. But then it was like a carnival ride, being flipped backwards and forwards, left and right until you are totally disoriented and your head is spinning. Nothing seemed right or as it should be, nor did any of it make any sense. It was pure, utter ridiculousness.

There was way too much reference to modern technology such as iPads, Apps, Facebook. I get it. To so many people that is how they communicate or engage with others, whether they be friends or strangers. So obsessed with 'Likes' or 'selfies' that they miss what's going on around them. Reading a book is an escapism and I don't want to be reminded of such senseless immersion and disconnection.

Many parts of book had me going "what?" or just plain out laughing at the stupidity. There were a few scenes where one character was in another room and then all of a sudden they were in the same room as the main character as if they had been there all along. There were also a few times that Apollo (the main character) would ask someone a question and it would just be left hanging there as the other person just left the room. Many of his questions were never answered.

Emma, his wife, went off her rocker and then supposedly transformed into this mystic all powerful being, then all of a sudden she is back to her old, normal, sweet self? I don't buy it. Without giving any spoilers, the absolute worst was the rescue 'a la Red Riding Hood'.

I should have left this as a DNF, but too much time and effort had already been invested for me not to know how it ended. But, I should've.

I really like this book, though I imagine the reason behind everything will irritate a few people. No spoilers. I'll just say that the reason was...a little out of left field.

The book itself is simply chock full of wonderfully lyric storytelling. LaValle introduces us to Apollo before his birth. We grow up with him, experiencing love and loss and feeling every emotion. And when tragedy strikes, we feel it to our very cores.

The story is both mystical and mysterious. I was fascinated and simply needed to know what was behind everything.

I did find that I wished the reason behind everything was...different. I don't think the author gave us enough breadcrumbs to allow the reader to truly accept what really happened.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will read the author again!

Victor Lavalle's "The Changeling" is absolutely captivating. I COULD NOT put this book down. He writes the suspense so well that the pages just turn themselves. I am not usually one to love fantasy but Lavalle's use of fantasy circumstances in a realistic setting of New York City is refreshing and just really intriguing. There is so much going on in this book but it is thoughtfully and thoroughly tied together with the introductions of many characters and classic fairytales. This novel focuses on the pressures of parenthood and the importance of maintaining one's sense of self and cautions against getting caught up in the ideals of parenthood. This book is so important for parents and also just so darn entertaining!!!

With a title like: "The Changeling", you know that you are entering the realm of Fairy Tales and Folklore. I hadn’t read Lavalle before, so I was expecting an allegorical Fairy Tale – but not one with actual witches and trolls. This novel is more for Stephen King and Neil Gaiman fans; it is “Kafka-esque” - a mixture of realism and fantasy.

As the opening lines tell us, this Fairy Tale begins in 1968 when Apollo Kagwa's parents meet. We soon learn that when Apollo was only four, his father, Brian West, suddenly disappeared without a trace. Did he abandon the wife and child that he seemed to adore? Where is he and why is he gone? We quickly follow Apollo into adulthood as he falls in love, marries and has a son. Lavalle's straightforward storytelling style is perfect for this kind of tale, and the pages flew as my interest for the plot grew and grew, but soon something truly horrible happens and we are taken into the realm of fantasy: monsters, witches, goblins and changelings. This isn’t my preferred genre so for me the novel earns 3.5 stars – it did hold my interest to the end. Fans of this genre will surely enjoy it more.

LaValle's writing style is fantastic. He includes wonderful ties beginning to end, foreshadows events, and also creates interesting twists along the way. I loved The Changeling's beginning and absolutely adored the names of the chapters that hinted at the nursery/playground rhyme "...Kissing in a tree, first comes love, then comes marriage."

The Changeling simultaneously manages to comment on the dangers of oversharing on social media, albeit in a magical realism sort-of-way, while also combining elements of the darkest of Brothers Grimm fairy-tales. This is masterfully done, but my praise comes with some confusion, particularly in LaValle's execution of the last quarter of the book.

Nevertheless, LaValle's adaptation of a fairy-tale in the 21st century for adults reigns as a fresh and twisted take on a genre as old as time.

Magical, heartbreaking, powerful. These words only being to describe LaValle's The Changeling. Set in modern New York, The Changeling explores the dark and mystical underbelly of society.

When new father Apollo's wife commits an heinous act, it is up to him to unravel the motivations behind her crime. In order to find out the truth, Apollo must face terrifying and increasingly frustrating journey which leads him into a world that no-one could begin to imagine existed.

LaVelle's work begins a bit slowly, picks up speed in the middle, only to slow down a bit at the end. However, if you like dark, modern, adult fairy tales, this work is for you!

Fairy tales do not exist to entertain. Manifestations of humanity's deepest fears, they serve as warnings of what lurks in the dark. Apollo Kagwa has been too busy with life to recognize the darkness stalking him. the product of a beautiful Ugandan immigrant and a white parole officer, he is a resourceful and intelligent child. After his father mysteriously vanishes, he adopts his mother's industriousness and builds a used book business. As a man, he immerses himself into the world of used books, ever on the hunt for that rare first edition. Eventually he marries the lovely Emma and they have a son. It is about that time that he and his best friend, a veteran and fellow book dealer, discover a rare first edition of How To Kill a Mockingbird. It is about that time that strange happenings appear to impact Emma's sanity. After a horrific night, both Emma and the baby disappear. His life unravelled, Apollo embarks on a hero's journey that will take him to the forgotten New York, a world of magic, mystery and unparalleled terror.

Cleverly plotted this is an engaging read. The New York city setting is genius. Where better to set an urban fantasy than in a place where heaven and hell uneasily exist. Apollo just content with multiple realities, one where the trolls are on the internet the other where they are under a bridge. It is dark and definitely not for everyone. The chapters are short but succinct. there are some subtle literary clues including references to Maurice Sendak's Outside Over There, a story about baby stealing goblins, and of course. How to Kill a Mockingbird which features a brave father worthy of emulation. I thought the book dragged a bit in the middle and some of the chase scenes were overly long. this is a book that is smart, dark and memorable.

The Changling by Victor LaValle is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early June.

This story begins in a sunny way with a love story between Brian, Lillian, and their son Apollo, then a grown Apollo falling for a librarian, Emma, and marrying before the birth of their son, also named Brian. Its just-so narration switches into gripping suspense as New York mothers unexplainedly turn against their families, claiming their child "is not a baby."

This story begins with a feeling very much like a fairy tale or fable. But as the story gets closer to the present time, that fairy tale feeling gradually drops away. Then the book becomes very contemporary and time stamped. The present is set in 2015. Apollo, a black main raised without a father, finds an autographed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. He debates saving it until Harper Lee passed away to be able to sell for more money. (She does in February 2016.) But when his wife Emma kills their son, claiming he is not actually their son, the story takes an odd turn combining both old world fables and technology. The story shows technology can be used for good or evil. I am starting to feel like this is an overall trend for many books right now. Another secondary plotline seemed to be race. While it didn’t play a big part of the story, it was brought up several times. This quote stood out to me as being a sad but accurate reflection of how things are: “I did not survive Iraq to get shot to death by some Suffolk County cop who ‘feared for his life.’” I feel this book is hard to classify, combining elements of fantasy, modern fiction, mystery, and love. I think pretty much everyone can find something to interest them.

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely phenomenal book, with some horrifying, gut-wrenching realism that will truly make you reconsider your position on some very controversial topics. Some Guillermo del Toro type of writing, with modern (dark) fairy tales interwoven with the stark reality of mental illness and insane actions. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves suspense and cerebral thrillers. Definitely worth a read!!

I listened to The Changeling through my local library. Often by the time one of my holds becomes available, I have no memory of what the book was supposed to be about. That was the case with this book.

I highly recommend diving into this book with very little foreknowledge. It's a magical ride. Vividly and beautifully written, it's a journey you won't soon forget. I am pleased as pie to have stumbled across this gem, and don't regret for one second devoting most of my weekend to listening to it.

My initial response was, "Wow! Really?!" This is, amongst other things, a love story. Mother to son and between husband and wife. I love how all of the parts eventually came together. I have few questions about a couple characters and their actions. This story was different from what I usually read but I'm glad that I saw this is the Literary Swag Bookclub pick for March 2018 and decided to give it a try. I can't wait to discuss it. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to try something new to enjoy.

The first half or so is great, the second..... weird, but not horrible. Just not gripping. You don't really care about what happens anymore, really . I couldn't get too invested with the characters, they just seemed .... flat. All the oddness going on and it was just meh.

Wow this was great. The action flowed so well, and LaValle's storytelling is such that even the more mundane glimpses of everyday life, which typically bore me, kept me well engaged. While marketed and described by other readers as "horror," to me it felt more like an urban fantasy or even a paranormal mystery. In any case, it's a magnificent story. It transitions from sheer unadulterated joy to breathtaking tragedy, humor to heartache, and reality to fantasy in a way that will keep you eager for more.
On a completely unrelated note, I will now put a bit of electrical tape over my laptop camera.

Never having read anything by Victor Lavalle, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. Other reviewers refer to his latest book, The Changeling, as a horror story, a modern day fairy tale. The beginning reads nothing like horror as it tells the story of how the parents of the main character, Apollo Kagwa, met and fell in love during the New York garbage strike of 1968. It’s sweet and lovely and makes for the perfect “Once upon a time.” Apollo is also sweet and lovely with a great sense of humour. He stole my heart when he was able, at age twelve, to turn his love for books into a business of buying and selling them to the neighbors.

The story then moves to Apollo as an adult and how he meets his future wife, Emma, the librarian. They have a loving relationship that grows with the birth of their son, Brian. The scene of Brian’s birth is memorable and humorous. Then things get weird, really weird. And at about page 125, like a baseball bat to the gut or a hammer to the face, things go wildly horrific. Absolutely out of the blue horrific. I almost had to put down the book and walk away.

I’m glad I didn’t. Without going into too much detail that would spoil it for other readers, Apollo finds himself alone and at a loss. This is when the book gets really creepy as it turns into a modern-day fairy tale that is more like the ancient narratives told around the fire and in no way resembles the cleansed and prettified Disney tales with a moral and the straight forward happily ever after. The Changeling is violent and angry and scary and reminds me of the German tales of “Black Peter”. You want demented? Read the fairy tales of Black Peter.

The Changeling drew me in and kept me glued to the book. When I finished, I was wiped out and the story and its characters stuck with me for days. There are elements throughout that make The Changeling a true modern-day horror story. There are more than just evil creatures or ghosts or witches that haunt and threaten us; our age has created a monster so powerful and broad it can easily destroy and wipe us out. That is a horror story.

While I loved the book, I felt there were some aspects that were never truly fleshed out or explained. I wanted to know more about Emma; she has a certain faculty that is not clarified (again, no spoiler). The scenes on the island were creepy but I wanted to know more about its inhabitants. Definitely a great story there.

So, to sum up, The Changeling is a fantastic mix of horror, humour, heartbreak, secrets and grit. The characters are amazing. There are some incredibly creepy parts that made me cringe. It’s well written and unforgettable And Apollo; I loved him for his strength, unconditional love for his family, and big heart. Memorable.

Highly recommended.

Heart rending and whimsical like the best fairy tales, as frightening as the Sendak book it references, this book will dare you to hate it and if you quit at that point you deserve the misery you bring upon yourself! Trust the feeling it gave you from the start, the story earns it by the end.
My first LaValle read, it won't be my last.

Thrilling. Mesmerizing. Scary. Shocking. Horrifying. Beautiful.

I have never read a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. like this before. This is a whole new genre occupied by one.

Victor Lavalle, the author, reads the Audible version. It is amazing.

Just don't read this in the dark. Just don't.

This author uses his narrative and writing style salon all his reader into the same false sense of security that his protagonist experiences. His writing style makes the reader feel the same betrayal, horror, and relief that his characters feel. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

I appreciated the creativity and the ideas of a fairytale being true. It's a little long and some of the big ideas don't totally connect. I liked it but can see where it might not be the story for everyone.