Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Changeling by Victor LaValle

9 reviews

emily_dunn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Colonisation

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

this book was equal parts charming and horrifying, with tragic bits sprinkled in. highly recommended to anyone who loves folklore and a dark adventure. i think i have to look into more victor lavalle books now

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

grandpas_farts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

The storyline gives me 3 stars, the writing however makes this a four star. I would love to read a romance written by LaValle and I cannot wait to read more by him! While reading, I could easily see the portrait that LaValle was was painting through his words.

The novel is broken into eight parts. Each part building more than the last. First we are met with Apollo's parents Brian and Lillian. I enjoyed reading their love story and finding out his foundation of life through his parents' story. Later we see Apollo as a young kid where he becomes an entrepreneur. Then we get into the meat of the story.

Apollo's fatherhood is immediately broken into chaotic adventure when his child is born. Despite all of this he takes everything in stride, until he can't. That's when Apollo sets out for what he feels he needs to do.

I did not understand a few things. Then again, when I finished the book with a few unanswered questions, I needed to remember this was fantasy horror novel. When Apollo is... 13? years old, he hears knocking on the door as he is taking a shower and as soon as he opens the door, the knocking stops. How? Also, water played a huge part in Apollo's trauma. The steam when Emma has him locked up. The water when he picks up the box. The steam in his nightmares. Brian tried to drown Apollo. Apollo was locked up in Rikers Island. Selling the book on water (the boat) and traveling to the witches' hideout.

Emma's friend tells the story of the photograph Emma took of herself naked implying it was connected to the third wish. In the last wish we learn Emma wanted a life of adventure. How is taking a nude picture an adventure? I thought Emma wanted the photo to be removed from the Earth or something with how I read it. 

What the hell happpened when they went back to their normal life? Was the womanhunt for Emma called off? Black children do not get the same news coverage as others, so maybe people forgot she even "killed" her child. How are they going to explain Brain's reappearance to people? I guess "and they lived happily ever after" sums up other questions.

I've never watched the Apple TV show, but I'd be curious to see what's it about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Suicide

indigo_fox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

This book was difficult to put down! Something always caught my interest and made me want to move on to the next chapter. 

I didn't really care for the characters. Apollo and Emma both got on my nerves and I didn't find either of them to be very likeable. Patrice was cool though. He's a solid bro. The parts with him were easily some of my favorite moments. 

I found this book to be very creepy. There were moments were I actually cringed away from the book because I was so freaked out. I still have a bunch of questions, and there are moments where I am not entirely sure what happened. 

That being said, I enjoyed the book! It wasn't what I was expecting but I wasn't disappointed. I hear this author has other books and I plan on checking them out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mycocam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Suicide

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Blood