The Changeling by Victor Lavalle, a review
I had only read The Ballad of Black Tom by Lavalle previously but it made quite an impression. I went into this book hopeful that it would do the same. Thankfully it proved to be the case. This is not a happy tale, it has moments in it that are heartbreaking and it doesn't shy away from its central themes. Having grown up with fairy tales being prevalent in my country of birth, I went in expecting certain events to unfold in a particular fashion. To my surprise, Lavalle took the story in a direction I did not see coming. That made the story better, in my opinion. Certain events within the story are easy to foresee unfolding but take nothing away from the overall impact of the story. Apollo Kagwa is a highly believable character, no matter where the story goes, no matter how fantastical, it feels real because of how he interacts with it and the general strangeness of it all.
The story actually starts with the parents of Apollo Kagwa, telling the tale of their meeting and eventual relationship that then leads to the birth of Apollo. I wasn't sure if this was of much import, but it plays into the story at a much later point. We then get to see the family together for a time, happy in the birth of their son, but it doesn't last for long. The story then jumps to Apollo as a boy, an avid reader, and a smart child. Apollo is haunted by a dream of his missing father coming to take him away, a dream that haunts him throughout his entire life. This dream proves to be something more, but Apollo won't discover that until adulthood. Apollo is an intelligent child, hungry for books, and it turns out quite a shrewd businessman. This love of books, and an ability to turn a profit, leads to his eventual profession and plays into how he meets his wife, Emma. The story does a great job of fleshing out Apollo's character, of making him feel real. He is interesting but flawed. Much of this story is of every day, of a simple but, mostly, happy life. The story shows Apollo growing up, meeting and marrying Emma, and the arrival of their son. Apollo and Emma name the child after Apollo's father, Brian. Apollo and Emma are beset with the typical problems of raising a newborn, exhaustion and lack of sleep soon set in as they go about the day-to-day. Apollo is desperate to be a different kind of father than he experienced, doing everything without any point of reference, eager to show off his child and his commitment to him. At first, everything goes well, but soon Emma begins to take a downwards turn. She seems to be wasting away, and her sister takes her out in the hopes of getting her to open up. It's here that we learn some of Emma's backstory, of the death of her parents and the strangeness surrounding their demise. It is a gruesome and tragic tale, haunting in its quality. After Kim's tale, Emma admits that she doesn't think that Brian is her child. This is the first warning we get of Emma's mental state. Apollo doesn't realize the depth of her thinking, of what she is going through, and continues to post pictures of Brian as he takes the child with him everywhere. He doesn't see the inevitable coming, not until he is bound to a chair in his kitchen and his wife does the unthinkable.
We meet Apollo months later, healed from the injuries inflicted upon him by his wife but broken by the death of his son. Apollo had spent most of those months in prison after an incident with his wife's prior work colleagues. At this point in the story, Emma is missing, and Apollo has no love left for the woman who killed their son. He is at rock bottom, getting his things in order, and reluctant to return to his home. This is a man on the brink, so close to the edge that he isn't sure of his actions and intentions. In a move to release another hold on his life, he hands a book to his friend Patrice, one he had been saving to sell at a later point. This book is a rare edition of To Kill a MockingBird and worth a considerable amount of money. It is a move that is relinquishing hold on life, Apollo is near suicide, and only the timely arrival of his mother keeps him from doing something foolish. She tells him of his father, of how they had grown apart. It is revealed that Lillian was going to divorce Brian. Apollo doesn't handle this news well. As the story continues Apollo begins to get strange texts, one of which states that Emma is still alive. Thus begins the spiral into a bizarre version of New York. This New York has witches in it, glamour, magic, and women that had killed their children, children that weren't actually their children. There are monsters too, some like those in fantasy stories and ones that look like people. Apollo is dragged further into this strange world, searching for his missing wife, and in time his son. This is a well-told fairy tale for the modern world. Eventually, Apollo is led to his wife, but she is no longer the woman he knew. Things just get stranger from there.
This is a well-written book. It gets its hooks into you and never let's go. It shouldn't work as well as it does. It isn't action-packed or sinister in its telling, but something in the way it is told keeps you reading. Apollo works fantastically as the protagonist, flawed enough to be believable and yet compelling enough that you want to see how his journey unfolds. More than anything, it is the theme of parenthood, the failings of our parents, and how they shape us, that take center stage in this book. It looks at how one generation's actions shape the next. How the resulting overcompensation can lead to disaster. There are other themes at play, but these are at the core of the book. LaValle is a fantastic author with a grasp of language that enriches his work. After this book, I intend to search out more of his works.
I give this book an easy 9 out of 10. I would recommend this book to any reader, not just of the three genres that I enjoy so much. It is one that I simply couldn't put down, and I barely registered time passing as I moved from one chapter to the next. LaValle is a talent that anyone should keep their eye on.
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