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A review by breadscorcher
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is as cynical as it is poignant, and as grim as it is loving, and it's hard to put a point on whether the experience is a positive or negative one. Nothing is sacred, and nothing is left unsullied. Friendships, relationships, parenthood, childhood, and every gap thereof is full of weeds and dirt to pick at and display.
If you're looking for something magical, this isn't it. If you're looking for something that ambles along the line of surreality and harsh realism, this is a story for you. If you're the sort of person who finds themself longing for more of the darkest, grimiest, and most forlornly beautiful portions of American Gods, this is the book for you.
But don't expect the break from those things that Neil Gaiman gives you, this is a story as bleak as history, and as much about the horror of the future as it is about the foundation that that present future is built upon.
If originality is your prime metric for whether you'll like a book, this has that. Whether or not the originality carries the book or not is subject to debate, but the experience was worth it for me.
It's unlike anything I've read for a good minute, and as a whole it stands apart from anything I would have read, but it's a beautiful rendition of that.
Ironically, this book includes several portions dedicated to the last book I finished, To Kill A Mockingbird, and unironically, it seems that the author was in a similar, albeit darker, mood. Race, sex/gender, and class inequality surround the story, but aren't the subject of it, necessarily.
If you're looking for something magical, this isn't it. If you're looking for something that ambles along the line of surreality and harsh realism, this is a story for you. If you're the sort of person who finds themself longing for more of the darkest, grimiest, and most forlornly beautiful portions of American Gods, this is the book for you.
But don't expect the break from those things that Neil Gaiman gives you, this is a story as bleak as history, and as much about the horror of the future as it is about the foundation that that present future is built upon.
If originality is your prime metric for whether you'll like a book, this has that. Whether or not the originality carries the book or not is subject to debate, but the experience was worth it for me.
It's unlike anything I've read for a good minute, and as a whole it stands apart from anything I would have read, but it's a beautiful rendition of that.
Ironically, this book includes several portions dedicated to the last book I finished, To Kill A Mockingbird, and unironically, it seems that the author was in a similar, albeit darker, mood. Race, sex/gender, and class inequality surround the story, but aren't the subject of it, necessarily.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Infertility, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail