'Geek Love' by Katherine Dunn is a dark and twisted tale about a family of circus performers who resort to extreme measures to create new acts for their show. The story follows the lives of the Binewski family, who engineer their own physical deformities through drug use during pregnancy to produce a collection of freakish offspring. The narrative delves into themes of family dynamics, sibling rivalry, identity, creation, and the blurred lines between beauty and monstrosity. The writing style is described as vivid, imaginative, and hypnotic, perfectly matching the baroque and bizarre events that unfold within the story.

Characters:

The characters are grotesque yet complex individuals, primarily the Binewski siblings, who grapple with their identities and relationships in a fiercely competitive and toxic family dynamic.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is vivid and lyrical, blending humor with grotesque imagery to explore complex themes surrounding ugliness, beauty, and family.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot revolves around a carnival family who breeds children with physical deformities to create their own freak show, leading to dark family dynamics and cult-like behaviors.

Setting:

The setting encompasses a traveling carnival and shifts to contemporary locations, emphasizing the contrasts between spectacle and everyday life.

Pacing:

The pacing is mostly engaging, despite some occasional disjointedness, as it navigates between childhood memories and present-day conflicts.

“When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets,” Papa would say, “she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized wi...

Notes:

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn is about a carnival family that intentionally breeds their children to be freaks, using drugs and radiation during pregnancy.

The main character, Olympia, is an albino hunchback dwarf who narrates the story from her perspective.

The novel explores themes of beauty, normalcy, and exploitation in society, as well as the complexity of familial bonds.

Characters in the book include AquaBoy, a brother with flippers instead of limbs, and conjoined twins, Iphy and Elly.

Geek Love was published in 1989 and was a finalist for the National Book Award and Bram Stoker Award.

The story presents a dark and twisted view of what it means to be different and critiques societal norms surrounding beauty and acceptance.

The book is known for its disturbing yet thought-provoking content, leaving a lasting impression on readers.

Arturo, Olympia's brother, starts a cult that practices progressive amputation in the pursuit of 'Peace, Isolation, Purity' (PIP).

Geek Love contrasts the idea of freakishness as a form of identity and connection to one's family.

The author, Katherine Dunn, is noted for her unique voice and writing style, often blending humor with grotesque elements.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Geek Love contains high content warnings for body horror, themes of incest, drug usage, and emotional manipulation, which may disturb sensitive readers.

From The Publisher:

National Book Award finalist

Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities (with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes). Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious-and dangerous-asset.

As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Ratings (62)

Incredible (22)
Loved It (18)
Liked It (10)
It Was OK (8)
Did Not Like (4)

Reader Stats (188):

Read It (62)
Currently Reading (1)
Want To Read (101)
Did Not Finish (3)
Not Interested (21)

2 comment(s)

Slowreadermjg73

Incredible

2 weeks

This was a fantastic book. Well paced with interesting characters. The story is both original and shocking in equal measure.

ColorfulLeo92

Loved It

2 months

This was as weird to rate as it was to listen to. Definitely one of the most unique, destrubing yet fascinating read I've read. I could find a reason why I should rate it at any stars, from a one star to a full five stars. It's a book that had me hooked but made me wonder if it wasn't a bit to much yet I couldn't put it down.

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About the Author:

Katherine Dunn was a novelist and boxing journalist who lived and worked in Oregon. She is the author of three novels: Attic; Truck; and Geek Love, which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Prize. She died…

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Geek Love

Katherine Dunn