Realism and Other Fantasies: The Changeling by Victor LaValle

 

I'm a huge fan of Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom (I even assign it in my course on horror and philosophy), so I was excited to read more from the same author.

The Changeling is a really different book than The Ballad of Black Tom, but it also shows LaValle's ability to blend realism and fantasy to tell an engaging story.

Almost all of the first 60% of The Changeling could easily be mistaken for standard literary realism, although in hindsight some fantasy elements were probably there earlier than I thought. Anyway, I found this part of the novel to be engaging and beautifully written, although a lot to get through for this fan of more speculative elements. I did put it aside awhile (nothing against LaValle; I just had a hankering to read some space-y science fiction at the time).

Once the fantasy elements emerge into full view, things do pick up a bit. The novel is longer than it looks. It somehow feels drawn out without dragging. It's just that a lot happens. For example, the first couple chapters detail how the main character's parents met! And this level of detail is typical, but without lagging.

Apollo Kagwa's father mysteriously disappeared when he was a kid, and as he is raised by his mother, he starts a little business delivering books and magazines to the people in his neighborhood, which eventually turns into an adult job as a book dealer. His best friend Patrice is also a book dealer, and they go to estate sales together in search of rare books. This is a fun element for bibliophiles, but it's also integral to the plot. He later marries a librarian named Emma and they have a son who they name Brian after Apollo's disappeared father. (I'm leaving out a lot. But this is the bare bones of the story.)

Eventually something terrible happens that I won't spoil, which eventually leads to some of the fantasy/horror elements. Even though the styles of the two authors are really different, the way that LaValle blends realistic characters and fantasy situations reminds me a lot of Stephen King (or maybe I've just been reading a lot of Stephen King lately).

Along the way you get some similar depictions as in The Ballad of Black Tom of what it's like to interact with the world (especially the police) as a Black person in America. There are also some interesting angles on fairy tales, magic, the internet, the geography of New York City, and changing conceptions of fatherhood and gender politics more generally. It sounds like a lot (and it is), but--without spoiling too much--I will say that it all comes together eventually. 

I recommend this one for fans of LaValle's other work (or his excellent tweets!) or anyone who likes a firm foundation in reality before bounding into the realms of fantasy and horror.

See also my Goodreads review.