I can't stop thinking about this book! It's difficult to describe, but it perfectly captures this sense of dread we all felt at least once in our life when our mundane, everyday reality feels slightly off, like some other world is encroaching upon it, moving too close, its boundaries
scraping against the thin layer of fabric that separates us from the awful things
that dwell just beyond our reach.
The Changeling is a story about
strange disappearances, about things and feelings we can rarely explain, and
about what happens when the veil is pulled back from our eyes for the first
time, allowing us to see things as they are, however terrifying they are.
LaValle
takes a chilling metaphor, turns it on its head, and wraps it in ingenious
layers of social commentary on racism, sexism, and power. It's an absolutely
fascinating read!
When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled 'Improbabilia'. Now a successful book dealer, Kagwa has a family of his own after meeting and falling in love with Emma, a librarian. The two marry and have a baby: so far so happy-ever-after.
However, as the pair settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in…
