Retro Review: The Changeling
/When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.
5 stars. I can't stop thinking about this incredible book. Victor LaValle successfully blended his primary ingredients - the essence of ancient folklore, the threat of modern technology, the emotional chaos of parenthood - into a truly intimate and truly intense fairy tale for adults. It is unsetting and disturbing, told at an invigorating pace with an astonishingly matter-of-fact tone.
The plot is simple: Apollo Kagwa, a rare book dealer and new father, must face demons both literal and metaphorical when his wife kills his baby and disappears. His diligent search for answers takes him down a rabbit hole full of ancient traditions, monsters, offerings, and threats both human and supernatural.
It is ridiculously compelling. There is social commentary and satire and humor and a dramatic climax. The twists and turns aren't exactly unpredictable but they provoke bone-deep shock anyway. LaValle's writing is simple but peppered with meta bombs like, "A bad fairy tale has some simple goddamn moral. A great fairy tale tells the truth." And later, related: "Even if you choose to ignore the truth, the truth still changes you." I admired the moments that felt so reminiscent of fairy tales - I found myself leaning forward, eyes glued to the page, as though listening and waiting and hoping for the "happily ever after."
The book examines huge themes such as racism, fatherhood, technology, greed, loss. LaValle had an agenda, a message, and he cloaked it admirably in horror. Each reader will no doubt draw something different from the complex undertones. To me, I would say, the biggest one, the one I inhaled and absorbed, was this: listen to women. Please, please, please listen to women.
And maybe put a piece of electrical tape over your laptop's camera.