Geek Love

by Dunn, Katherine
ISBN: 9780446391306
4.8 (5)
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780446391306

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Overview

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Dunn, Katherine
  • ISBN: 9780446391306
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.00 x 1.05
  • Number Of Pages: 355
  • Publication Year: 1990

Customer Reviews

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4 ★   20%
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4.8
5 Ratings

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  • Family disfunction, circus style.

    Ashlie N. - 2 years 4 months ago

    Imagine that you work for a circus and you'll do anything necessary to make it as spectacular as possible. Now imagine the unintended consequences your children will face in their futures because of your machinations. This is Geek Love in a nutshell. With a plot that goes between past and present, Geek Love is the story of a mother and father who make their own family of circus freaks- better known as Geeks-and all of the adventures that come along with it. The Binewskis are not your typical family, and it goes far beyond just being circus freaks. They lie, they scheme, they make themselves into bigger and more spectacular freaks than you have known before. All of this takes its toll on the family in very unexpected ways. This is not a quick or happy read, but it is fun and a little disturbing. Think Christopher Moore mixed with Chuck Palahnuik and you have Geek Love.

    HPB Staff Review

  • The perks and challenges of being freaks.

    Angie B. - 3 years 4 months ago

    I first read Geek Love 15 years ago and it has remained one of my favorite novels to recommend to friends. I recently re-read it and my cult-like obsession with it has been quickly renewed. Katherine Dunn tells us about the rise and eventual fall of the Binewski Carnival Fabulon, created by Al Binewski and his beautiful geek wife, Crystal Lil. After some hard times, the once flourishing carnival began to fade so Al and Crystal Lil decided to breed their very own freak show with the help of strong drugs and arsenic during prime times in pregnancy. The children that survived were Arturo the Aquaboy, who was born with flippers in place of arms and legs, Iphy and Elly are conjoined twins with musical talent and rare beauty, and Oly who is an albino, humpbacked, dwarf, and from whose point of view the story is told. There is also Fortunato, or Chick, who outwardly appears completely normal but soon after he's born reveals telekinetic powers. The story follows the family across the country and through decades of sibling rivalry and the perks and challenges of being freaks. It truly is a story of love, familial and raw, the kind of love that tears at your guts. The way Katherine Dunn writes is like strange, wonderful, poetry. Her descriptions are simultaneously grotesque and beautiful. There are many times that I was stunned into laughter and/or tears.

    HPB Staff Review

  • A dark and stunning story of family dysfunction

    Alicia S. - 4 years 10 months ago

    This is the story of the Binewski family, Al and Crystal Lil and their five freak children who travel as a sideshow act. During Crystal Lil's pregnancies, she consumes various drugs and harmful substances in a successful attempt to cause mutations in their children. There's Arty, a boy with flippers for limbs, conjoined female twins Elly and Iphy, a female hunchbacked albino dwarf named Oly, and their youngest son, Chick who harbors dangerously strong telekinetic powers. If you're like me, a good story can't be dark enough. The subject matter, and the characters never seem to be justly macabre. Some come close, but I seldom find a writer who is fearlessly willing to go there. I am pleased to report that Katherine Dunn went there in her 1989 novel, Geek Love. The timeline jumps between the childhoods of the Binewski freaks and the adulthood of Oly, the narrator who is covertly pursuing her estranged daughter, Miranda. Miranda was born with a slight deformity, a small tail that she has grown fond of, but is now considering having surgically removed. The story builds flawlessly in a progression of events between the two timelines. Dunn delves into the sticky, tormented cores of her characters. Readers are given full access to the internal monologue of Oly as she struggles with familial relationships and her instinct to protect her daughter (and her tail). Geek Love manages to simultaneously be a hilarious commentary on societal norms, and a heartbreakingly tender portrayal of family love and loyalty.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Think Federico Fellini meets David Lynch.

    Michael L. - 4 years 11 months ago

    A pulsating force in ugliness; this novel will stick to your ribs with melancholy bleakness whether you liked it or not. Relatively short in length, it can be gobbled down quickly. And then, it'll linger, threating to possess you with its horror when you thought you'd had moved on. It's astounding that Dunn possesses such a refined ability to craft a prose that reads at a steady pace as well as constructing fluidity and artistry in her word choice and sentence structure. There are bits that recall Sexton at her most smug and pieces that churn Flannery O'Connor at her most intimidating. Or, think Federico Fellini meets David Lynch. It's truly a bizarre ride. Give this book your hard earned attention. Geek Love isn't just a novel; it's a provoking yarn through the mundane and the oddity of the human condition- and how alluring and savage we can be.

    HPB Staff Review

  • X-Files meets American Horror Story

    Keit N. - 5 years 5 months ago

    Have you ever wanted to know the real life stories of carnival folk after the fun fair closes? Well, this is not the book for that story. However, if you want a story that is a cross between the television series The X-Files and American Horror Story Carnival filled with fantastical characters grounded in all too human emotions well then Geek Love is a perfect fit.

    HPB Staff Review