The Changeling by Victor LaValle

Publisher's Summary:

Apollo Kagwa has had strange dreams that have haunted him since childhood. An antiquarian book dealer with a business called Improbabilia, he is just beginning to settle into his new life as a committed and involved father, unlike his own father who abandoned him, when his wife Emma begins acting strange. Disconnected and uninterested in their new baby boy, Emma at first seems to be exhibiting all the signs of post-partum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go far beyond that. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act—beyond any parent’s comprehension—and vanishes, seemingly into thin air. 

Thus begins Apollo’s odyssey through a world he only thought he understood to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined. His quest begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma’s whereabouts. Apollo then begins a journey that takes him to a forgotten island in the East River of New York City, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest in Queens where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. This dizzying tale is ultimately a story about family and the unfathomable secrets of the people we love.

Victor LaValle has written something special here. It's a book that haunts you well after you're done reading it. He manages to combine all the elements of a truly brilliant story all into one. It's a fairy-tale retelling; it's a horror novel; it has a moral; it deals with class and race; and post-partum depression and the ways in which the world sees women or doesn't; and all the ways we love and hurt those we love.

It is a wild ride from the moment we meet Apollo's parents to the very end. There are so many twists and turns throughout the book I could never guess what would happen at the end. What happened with Apollo's father? Does he have something to do with his son Brian? Is his wife crazy? Is his child truly dead? So many questions and Apollo takes us with him through it all.

The characters are well-rounded; the creepy villains all have motivation and humanity. Not everyone is all good or all bad. Sometimes we don't know who to root for! I had so many emotions while listening.

Here are some great quotes:

"A bad fairy tale has some simple goddamn moral. A good fairy tale tells the truth."

"'And they lived happily ever after...' 'Today, she said. And they lived happily today.' 'Is that enough he asked...' 'That's everything, my love.'"

"When you have to save the one you love, you will become someone else, something else. You will transform. The only real magic is the things we'll do for the ones we love."

I also enjoyed listening to the audio version. I was a little unsure in the beginning with the author reading his own book. That can go badly very quickly. But he grew on me and there were moments you could tell he was affected by his own writing. He added the right kind of gravitas needed for this book.

*read for R.I.P. XIII and FrightFall