The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books 'The Ballad Of Black Tom' Offers A Tribute To And Critique Of Lovecraft I was completely absorbed by his thorough character sketches, his moving reflections on race and growing up black in New York, his deep, specific focus on the minutiae of parenting an infant - but I was stunned that a book that could move me to tears by page 7 ("Parenthood is a story two people start telling together") could also ask me to like a man who doesn't take no for an answer, who cuts wishes from his wife's wrist. As I started reading, I began to think this would be a fantasy novel in the style of John Crowley's Little, Big, where everything is fairies but no one talks about the fairies and the fairies are long loping metaphors for generations' worth of relationships with enchantment.Īs with Little, Big, I was frequently startled by The Changeling's piercingly beautiful insights into parenthood, childhood, adulthood, but uncertain about whether the growing dislike I felt for the protagonist was deliberate on LaValle's part or not.
I keep wondering how I'd feel about The Changeling if I'd started by reading the flaps, and let someone else build the box into which to pour my reading experience.Īs it was, my only clues about the kind of book it would be came from the title and Yuko Shimizu's intriguing cover art. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Changeling Author Victor Lavalle
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