Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

9 reviews

queersubtext's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, and Pregnancy

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

3.75 rounded up! 

this book was very inventive and the prose was very nice, but frankly at least 50 pages could be shaved off. the pacing was strange and in general la valle shoved far too many separate stories into this book. what started as whimsical and fresh ended up feeling random and cobbled together  

Apollo’s story was interesting, but the parts about his father and the truth of what happened to him felt like a completely separate book. he could easily have just been a deadbeat that never showed up, and the dreams added absolutely nothing to the story. the blurb on the back of the book makes the father dreams seem related to the plot, but they aren’t at all. going in with that expectation may be why I was so annoyed when they turned out to be entirely unmagical. the mom randomly revealing this truth after he gets home from jail made 0 sense? why not when he had his baby? why not right after baby Brian died? it felt shoehorned in. same with Emma’s crazy ass family history. Kim’s confession was so out of place. 

The technological aspect of this book felt so stilted next to the island, the trolls, etc. there were just way too many strands to follow and far too neat of a wrap up when so much happened in this book. an entire island of witches and a monster and then a … 4chan guy? and said 4chan guy is descended from Norwegian guy who fed his baby to a troll? and now the troll lives in Queens? And the 4chan guy charges people to watch the troll eat kids????? it started to feel like the author got the sub-plots from an online random prompt generator 

instead of the parts above, I would’ve liked more time in Emma’s head. how did she feel being called crazy for something she knew was happening? how did she become “a witch”? how did she survive in the woods with the troll there? why did she attack Apollo to kill the changeling instead of just knocking him out to do it? what was she planning to do with the troll if Apollo hadn’t come? how did the island start? some things felt unexplored, while others (like Apollos dad) were overexplained. 

that being said, i can’t say I didn’t enjoy this read! the first 200 pages were a treat, and even when things took a turn for the absurd, i still liked reading it despite the confusion. la valle’s prose and narrative voice are lovely, I think the plotting and pacing was just a huge bust for me. I’d like to try more of his work, because there was some real shine here amongst the confusion

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

jialianyang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beautiful tale that quickly snowballs into a haunting, mysterious, sad, and horrifying thriller. Survivors birthing and parenting survivors, a book man seeks vengeance, a mother fights to find her real child, all of these are just snapshots of the twists and turn in this gripping book. It's won many awards for good reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Gore, Blood, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Body horror

Minor: Police brutality

adiajamille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, because you never really knew where you were headed next. The story is thrilling, heartbreaking, engaging, mysterious, and so much more. It touches on the real life and how we engage with people when they’re at their lowest, and makes the fantastical horror even more terrifying by how easily it all started, in a realistic way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Gore, and Misogyny

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked this book. The writing is really charming (which feels weird to say with this type of content) and the fairy tale atmosphere worked really well for the most part. New York and its history were well utilized. There is one plot point in the middle of the book that I thought was kind of silly

(the part at Rikers - considering later discussions that was all absurdly easy and felt kind of pointless)

but overall fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Alcohol, Confinement, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Police brutality

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

The Changeling is a very interesting story and I honestly am not sure how to rate it. This is my first time reading a full length dark fairy tale and I'll say that I enjoyed it for the most part. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than I enjoyed the second half, probably because at the 3/4th mark in the book it gets a little bit confusing and is a little hard to follow.

I don't want to say too much because this is one of those books where the reader should start reading this with as little information on the book as possible. Overall I'll say that this was really creative and I really enjoyed LaValle's writing style. I felt creeped out a few times so this is the perfect read for spooky season! This wasn't my favorite book and I didn't feel completely fulfilled by the ending, I do however respect and appreciate the creativity that went into this story.

I'm going to give this 3.5 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Racism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

griffinthief's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit

malloryfitz's review

dark

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Violence, Pregnancy, Grief, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Racism, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Excrement, Fatphobia, Police brutality, and Vomit

bardic_llama's review

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Man was this book was hella slow but if definitely the best imagery for vomit being 'the color of crème brûlée.' But it picks up pace as it got closer to the end which I suppose is what gives it thriller vibes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Racism and Stalking