When Apollo Kagwa’s father disappeared, he left his son a box of books and strange recurring dreams. Now Apollo is a father himself—and as he and his wife, Emma, settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Apollo’s old dreams return and Emma begins acting odd. At first Emma seems to be exhibiting signs of postpartum depression. But before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act and vanishes. Thus begins Apollo’s quest to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined. His odyssey takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever.
I think I have a weird relationship with books that are adapted into shows or movies. I’m…inconsistent. Sometimes it feels very important for me to read the book prior to watching the adaptation. Sometimes it doesn’t matter to me at all. Sometimes I’ll watch the thing & lose any interest in reading the book.
Something about Victor LaValle’s THE CHANGELING though…as much as I was dying to watch the Apple TV adaptation when it came out (I am Apple TV’s number one fan, not sure if you knew) I really wanted to hold off until I had read the book. And I’m going to touch on the adaptation later in the review, for sure. Because I definitely Have Some Feelings about it.
I had read THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM & definitely enjoyed it (cosmic horror is not usually my favorite), but was totally blown away by LONE WOMEN. So I was excited to get to some of LaValle’s backlist & THE CHANGELING seemed like the next best place to go.
And yeah, wow. What a fucking incredible book this is. THE CHANGELING is book that refuses to be any one thing in particular, but certainly falls under the horror umbrella in many ways. But there’s almost a dark fantasy/magical realism vibe to the book as well.
It’s also an unapologetic love letter to New York City, and is one of the best examples of “location as a character” that I’ve ever read. Whether LaValle is taking creative liberties with things at times (and he is, I spent a lot of time going down research black holes & finding dead ends) or giving you painstakingly detailed descriptions of very cool-sounding (if defunct) restaurants, this is an extremely rich & vibrant version of New York City.
In many ways, THE CHANGELING is a love story. It certainly starts that way, with the story of Apollo Kagwa meeting & falling in love with a librarian named Emma. Both Apollo & Emma have a significant amount of trauma in their lives/backstory, and this gets explored a lot throughout the novel.
But they meet, they fall in love, they get married, and they have a baby. And it’s all so lovely, truly. This building of a life. The scene where their baby is born will forever be etched into my mind, just a truly gorgeous scene.
Apollo is a “book man,” going from one estate sale to another, trying to sort through endless boxes of moldy/trashed books to find hidden treasures to sell. Finding an extremely valuable book is sort of the catalyst for all the horrific & unbelievable things that follow. This book goes to places I could scarcely believe myself, let alone describe in a spoiler-free way. This book gets deeply weird, and super dark.
I loved the way this book moved from one element to another so fluidly. I think it really speaks to just how wildly talented Victor LaValle is that one chapter will have you teary-eyed & emotional, and the next will have you holding your breath & horrified at what you’re reading.
So…about the show. Hmm. I guess I’d ultimately say I have mixed feelings. The first five episodes are so faithful to the book that it’s almost uncanny. And I do not need adaptations to be very faithful, I want to make that clear. I recognize that books are very different from TV/movies, and I really am not a stickler at all for a “faithful” adaptation. But the last three episodes veer so hard away from the source material that it just felt baffling in a way. The people who made the show were clearly angling for a second season, which (according to everything I can find online) they aren’t going to get. So the show feels incredibly incomplete & I’d have a hard time recommending it, even though there’s a lot to like about the first five episodes. Definitely a case where the book is the place to go for this story!
I loved THE CHANGELING a lot. Really looking forward to going through Victor LaValle’s backlist a bit more & can’t wait to see what’s next from him!
Grimdark Dad 