A National Book Award Finalist: This 'wonderfully descriptive' novel from an author with a 'tremendous imagination' tells the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias have bred their own exhibit of human oddities. (The New York Times Book Review) The Binewskis arex 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 ...
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A National Book Award Finalist: This 'wonderfully descriptive' novel from an author with a 'tremendous imagination' tells the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias have bred their own exhibit of human oddities. (The New York Times Book Review) The Binewskis arex 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 US, 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. Praise for Geek Love 'If Flannery O'Connor had consumed vast quantities of LSD, she might have written like this' Literary Review 'The most romantic novel about love and family I have read. It made me ashamed to be so utterly normal' Terry Gilliam 'I felt electrocuted when I read that first page with Crystal Lil and her freak brood. I stood there in the bookstore and my jaw came unhinged. No book I've read, before or since, has given me that specific jolt' Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia
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I absolutely loved this book, but it did take me quite some time to get through. The author has created this magically freaky world that you just don't want to leave. Arty's freaky followers were kind of a hard pill to swallow. I've never read anything quite like Geek Love. It's a healthy dose of freakshow live, carny atmosphere and the pure dysfunction that surrounds every family. This book is written intelligently and does not hold back one bit. I love Chick and I hate the way the family came to their untimely demise. Some parts of the book were a little wordy and therefore boring at times. Oly is a champ and I wish we got to witness her telling Miranda the story of her conception. Dunn writes an unbelievable story in a vividly interesting and freakishly beautiful way.
Rubycanary
Apr 20, 2009
Interesting and Twisted
I had been waiting to read this book for years. A friend of mine loves it and had recommended it several times.
I thought it started out great. A family of carnies expands by experimenting on their offspring to produce "oddities" that can be marketed in the carnival. These kids grow up with individual abnormalities that define their personalities. The oldest, Arturo, turns sadistic and starts a cult that quickly gains hundreds of followers.
The story is told from the point of view of one of his younger sisters, Oly, who is an albino hunchback. She worships him as much as his cult members, but regrets it later in life.
The story is entertaining and well written, but horribly twisted and at some points disgusting. In the end I'm not sure if I enjoyed it as a book or not. It really examines the generational perpetuation that emotional abuse follows, and how isolated people can't see that what they are experiencing is neither necessary or normal.
Aladdin7Sane
Jan 25, 2008
Excellent
I have never before been as engrossed in a novel as I have in Geek Love. The story is just out of left field; a mother, with the father's encouragement, takes narcotics and other degenerative drugs while pregnant to knowingly mutate her unborn children. They run a circus and feel that the best thing they can give their child is an innate trade (of sorts) by being attractions in their circus. The different children's mutations read like an idiot's Mad Lib-which I find to be a good thing. Either with Arturo the merman, the conjoined piano prodigies, or the nearly blind albino humpback balding dwarf, you have to find humor in the absolute grotesqueness of them. I never found myself too personally involved with the characters. Come on, how could they possibly be relatable? One's a maniacal narcissus, the other is. . . I can't even tell without revealing a huge part of the novel but the dwarf ain't too innocent. The book is great for it's ambition and is needed to be read by everyone whether they are disgusted by the characters or engrossed, this is one novel NO one will ever forget after reading. I read this book last in 7th grade and am now a senior in high school. Just to give an example of the longevity of the book.
Nytemare007
Nov 22, 2007
A Twisted Tale of Love and Hate...
Take a look inside this circus troup to explore the limits of how love and hate can exsist in equal amounts in any family relationship. But this isn't any ordinary family, this is a family BRED to be freakishly different, and proud of it. A dark story told masterfully!
vino
Apr 3, 2007
bizare yet endearing
Very few stories can give you a precise visual of what the characters look in so little words. The story does go back and forth from past to present which is a bit confusing at times but ties it up nicely. The character as grotesque as they are depicted, makes the reader relate and feel terrible for their deformities. But at the same time gives the normal people in the story a sense that they are the minorities. I could not get enough of the characters. I only wish they could be generated into other stories. Definitely a nice fall/winter read.
