Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

The Changeling by Victor LaValle is a novel that is a modern day fairytale about parental anxiety and secrets.

This book was somehow both vividly beautiful and deeply /fun/. I'd started it in a US edition but hadn't gotten to finish it - here, I raced through it. I don't think I've been so invested in a story in a very long time. Bookish and magical. I loved it.

Like his last book, The Ballad of Black Tom, The Changeling brings the fantastical and magical to New York, but whereas Ballad was very much a riposte to the racial (indeed racist) subtext of HP Lovecraft's cosmic horror, Changeling is more of a riff on a classic trope of fairy stories, the baby stolen away (and replaced) by the Other. In locating this in the modern US and having it happen to people of colour one can't but reflect on a history of racism, but Lavalle's focus is more on what has happened - or not happened - and on its effect on a family: where the earlier book addressed matters of race head on, this one is perhaps more focussed on gender, looking at the impact of a new baby on a family, the roles of mothers and fathers, the precariousness of womens' place in this world - and, ultimately, the steps they may go to for security.

That said, with the main protagonists being people of colour, race issues are never far away. There is its effect on Apollo's career as a dealer in rare books - often refused access to house sales. There is a scene where Emma and her sister wander into a park where some (White) mothers are with their children. Who are these Black women? Nannies perhaps? And so on. A litany of little differences, leading up to the moment when two cops find Apollo, late at night, in the determinedly White neighbourhood of Little Norway.

Lavalle takes his time establishing what is going on, describing in detail the background of Apollo and Emma, especially how Apollo's mother Lillian fled Uganda, came to New York and met Brian - who subsequently fades from the picture, so that she brings up her son alone. A sense of mystery about this chimes with the theme of the book, of vanishings and parenthood. Similarly, Emma and her sister are orphans and the details aren't clear until later in the book. I like the fact that Lavalle doesn't rush - these stories are interesting in themselves, especially how Apollo builds up his rare books business. This lead up - and the subsequent very tender, story of Emma and Apollo's courtship, marriage and of her pregnancy - really grounds the book in the world of New York, and in a sense of realism: there is nothing 'weird' going on or at least nothing weirder than the early 21st century generally has to offer (which is perhaps not quite the same thing).

All this is, though, only the build up to a shocking, shattering event. It would absolutely be a spoiler to say what this is, beyond the fact that it concerns that central family, and that they'll never be the same again. Lavalle really plays with your (the reader's) sympathies here (a good thing!) and the book left me questioning everything I thought I'd understood so far . It then places the reader, with one of the main characters, in some pretty unsavoury company as they (the character) try to come to terms with what's happened. The book raises questions about trust, truth and commitment. It's desperate, heartwrenching stuff which moves the story on at pace much more than in the first part and creates a compelling situation. I did wonder whether - after that patient, early work - Lavalle hadn't, still, skipped something here. Basically a storm blows up in the family: but while we are given some early hints of trouble, a great deal of the development seems to be covered when the story skips several months, resuming with things about to reach a crisis. At the risk of making for a very long story, I'd like to have seen more filled in here.

That's only a small reservation, because once the crisis hits, it really hits and the fallout from what is a truly devastating event tales a long time to settle.

We watch, in shock, as things go on, meeting those unsavoury characters and caring about the path our protagonist seems to taking. Things seem to lurch from bad to worse, until Lavalle pivots the book and makes it into something rather different from what one assumed, showing everyone's actions in a very different light. I apologise if that seems cryptic, but I don't want to spoil the story.

A book about women and men, parenthood, trust, and secrets, The Changeling provides a great deal to think about. Inspired by fairytales it may be, but this is a gritty, contemporary fantasy-romance which grips in every page.

An ancient fairy tale tale told in modern day New York. Apollo and Emma are a young couple struggling to cope with all the trials and pressures of life, particularly the balancing act between parenting baby Brian and their careers.

A tale full of magical realism and horror, the biggest evil of all being, perhaps, today's over reliance on technology and social media.

Sometimes disturbing and also a little weird at times, just the way I like books to be.

This was a weird and fantastical read and no mistake! The writing is very good and immediately drew me in. The premise was intriguing, the set-up promising and the plot was a lot of fun - touching, creepy, exciting and surprising. It wasn't without fault however as the pace sometimes flagged a little and the ending could've packed more punch if it hadn't been so long in coming. That said, the scene when the story suddenly changes focus (you will know it when you read it) is outstanding, really horrifying and breathtaking. The whole story raises some really interesting questions and supplies some pretty disturbing questions about just what lengths a parent will go to for their child. Recommended for fans of magical realism and urban fantasy or the general reader who fancies something a bit different.

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I read The Changeling while I was in hospital awaiting surgery, but you could read it on a park bench in the sunshine and still be frightened, sickened and totally gripped.
I discovered (via Google) that the protagonist, Apollo Kagwa, might be named after a Colonial-era Ugandan politician. I don't know enough about that period in history to know if this is meaningful or coincidental! Apollo is one of two rare book dealers in New York who happen to be Black. His outsider status is a theme throughout the novel- the scene where Apollo navigates an island ruled by witches mirrors the earlier scene where he nervously enters a white man's garage.. His best friend Patrice lives in an illegal sublet in a white neighbourhood, as invisible as the witches on their shrouded isle. Apollo himself spends time on Rikers, the island where New York hides its undesirables. The monster that steals Apollo's child is a Colonist- it travelled to New York with some Norwegian pilgrims and helped them fulfil their Manifest Destiny in exchange for human sacrifice. Apollo is constantly forced to travel through spaces that are barred to him (literally and figuratively- Apollo has to undo magic spells to unlock hidden doors *and* sneak past cops patrolling all-white neighbourhoods) He escapes traps by fooling his captors, much like the heroes in Rumpelstiltskin and Jack and the Beanstalk. The 'death' of Baby Brian is no more gruesome than Cinderella's stepmother's demise, but it horrifies us because it takes place in an apartment in New York in the 21st century; no-one comes to kiss the baby back to life for 400 pages. The recognisable fairy tale tropes are what make The Changeling uncanny; the modern setting really raises the stakes. I'm excited to learn that The Changeling has been optioned for TV- I will recommend this book to fans of fairy tales, horror, and weird urban lit (like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and China Mieville's King Rat)

I have heard so many great things about Victor LaValle, so when I saw this was available to request I didn't hesitate.

For me, this really was a book of two halves. I greatly enjoyed the world building and character explorations of the first half of the story but then the second half lost me. I don't think I understood the genre fully when I went into this and perhaps that's where my confusion lies.

If you enjoy fairytale retellings or 'dark fairytale' narratives, then this is certainly for you. I usually do enjoy these types of stories but was not expecting it here and it seemed to me that LaVelle threw quite a lot of tropes in to keep the story going. Perhaps if it would have been a little shorter I would have enjoyed it more.

I do feel a little disappointed as this was a 5 star read for me until about I was 50 - 60% through with it but then too many characters and themes were thrown in that were not developed enough to maintain my attention.

I'm glad I finished it and I will try LaValle again.

I think this book went over my head. I cannot be quite sure but I do think so. I had the overwhelming feeling of just missing something here - and I cannot quite put my finger on what that was. Bear that in mind while I try to figure out my thoughts while writing.

In this book we follow Apollo and his wife both before they meet and after they have had their son. For about a third of the book, there is some menace lurking but mostly the story is whimsical and quite lovely, until suddenly it shifts gears in the most traumatic way possible and Apollo's life spin out of control.

This book is genre defying in a way I usually absolutely adore - it is fairy-talesque in its whimsy and its frequent re-telling of familiar stories, it is horrifying beyond measure in a way that makes It seem quaint, it is a social commentary cleverly disguised as a page turner, it is a book about family and love and trust and the lengths we can go. And writing this down makes me want to change my rating but ultimately there were long stretches here where the book lost me. I found Apollo a difficult character to root for in the single-mindedness of his approach. He reacts more than he acts (and I like how this mirrors the way Germanic fairy-tales are structured) and flip-flops in his understanding of what is going on in a way that made being so close to him frustrating.

The tonal shift I spoke about earlier first works brilliantly - the silent horror of the earlier scenes are full of foreboding and impressively rendered (I shudder to think of the first scene of Emma receiving a message that then disappears - so simple and so effective) and build the perfect crescendo to that scene (if you read the book you know which one I mean). After that the book seems to lose a bit of steam, important scenes are told in flashbacks, some strands of the story never go anywhere, and the reader is expected to go along for the ride - which sometimes worked better than other times.

I think ultimately my enjoyment or maybe sometimes lack thereof comes down to genre preference. The whole book felt so unfair. And I do not deal well with unfair. It makes me feel anxious and stressed and doesn't compel me to pick a book up. But nevertheless, this is in parts a brilliant book, with many many clever things I will be mulling over for some time to come.

Despite many rave reviews I found it difficult to get into this book and in the end I didn't finish it.

4.5*

I always say that I'm no fan of magical realism; that I like my realist fiction to be realist, my magic definitely, clearly supernatural. But perhaps it's the term "magical realism" which I don't really care for, not the genre itself, and I'd be openminded enough to enjoy it if branded as "fantasy" or "horror" fiction.

Take Victor LaValle's "The Changeling". It starts off as an ultra-realist depiction of a young, black family in New York. The relationship between book-dealer Apollo Kagwa and librarian Emma Valentine is tenderly depicted, from their tentative courtship, to their marriage, to the birth of their son Brian, named after Apollo's estranged father. We sense Apollo's enthusiasm at being a new dad and LaValle's observations about "New Dads", 21st Century father sharings family duties with their wives, are wry but spot-on. Can realist fiction get more real than this?

Unexpectedly, the novel changes gears. The blurb speaks of an "unspeakable act of violence", which I will not reveal so as not to spoil its gut-wrenching effect. Even such a horrific crime, however, remains, unfortunately, within the realm of the possible, as watching the 8'o clock news will reveal. It is the justification of the act which propels us into the mythical. What follows is a Gaiman-esque, mind-bending journey into an alternative and unlikely New York, peopled by characters, creatures and plot-tropes which would not have been out of place in a Scandinavian epic. And there is, indeed, the feel of a medieval Northern saga in Apollo Kagwa's journey into the heart of the tragedy which has struck his family.

Surprisingly, the more fantastic the story becomes, the more it becomes rooted in the present. The realities of contemporary urban living, including our fixation on social media, not only feature in the novel, but are an intrinsic aspect of the plot.

The Changeling had me hooked and, like a olden-day bard, LaValle keeps us hanging onto his words. What this novel certainly shows is that myths are just a different way of portraying the world, a magical depiction of the everyday. Isn't that what magical realism is all about?

This is what you get when you tell a real fairy tale, with all of the associated horror, wonder and magic and it is, quite simply, stunning. The novel tells the story of Apollo Kagwa and his wife, Emma as they meet, fall in love, get married and have a child. Then, things go horribly wrong and Apollo has to search for meaning in the depths of sorrow, while he is exposed to a world he never knew existed. The first third of the book is fairly standard fare in terms of family dynamics told in compelling prose. The turning point of the book hits you with a blast and from that point on, the book becomes a surreal exploration of what it means to be a parent in the modern world with modern sensibilities, facing ancient fears. There are strong feminist elements to the narrative, which forces the reader to confront the way in which society treats women once they become wives and mothers. Similarly, there are interesting comments on what it means to be black in a white neighbourhood. All of this is wonderfully wrapped up in what is, at heart, a modern fairy tale. This book leaves you with the belief that monsters are indeed real and has such a sinister mood that lingers long after you put the book down. There are some truly horrific scenes in the book and it is definitely not an easy read, but it is a staggeringly satisfying one that I would recommend to anyone with a love of fantasy, or anyone who can remember how cool it was to be scared when you were a kid.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Changeling is one of the most remarkable, and least predictable, books I have ever read.
If I had to compare it to anything, it would be one of the Grimm's fairy tales, before they were sanitised for children. The old stories were about the many privations endured by families in the most difficult circumstances. It is about what you are willing to do for your children, good and bad, and how this can drive parents to the most difficult and deluded decisions.
When Apollo and Emma meet, and fall in love, you think the story is going to follow a certain path. The story has already been quite eventful up to that point. Emma has been raised by her big sister. Apollo's mother Lillian has escaped from war-torn Uganda, met a nice man, and had a lovely son. Apollo has found his dream job.
This is merely a prelude to the craziness. Everyone has secrets. Emma starts behaving in a way that most people would regard as being unhinged. The real story, a kind of epic quest, begins. It would be a shame to spoil it for future readers. You will not see it any of it coming.