Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Geek Love: A Novel
Book Review: A most bizarre and satisfying read
Summary: 5 Stars
GEEK LOVE is one of the most bizarre and satisfying reading experiences I've had. I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said. This book is twisted, bizarre, empathetic, and ethereal. Katherine Dunn possesses quite the original mind. GEEK LOVE is a difficult read but if you give yourself up completely to Dunn's disturbing creation, you won't be disappointed.Book Review: A true gem!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is dark and not recommended for vanilla types. For anyone else, it is a must-read! The writing is layered and brilliant. The story is so original and engaging. The characters are amazing and I found myself fully invested in what happened to them. All in all, it is truly brilliat. There is a slow patch towards the end, but that's a small price to pay. This is in my personal top 5 favorite books.Book Review: A unique, riveting family portrait
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is unlike anything I've read before. Katherine Dunn writes with a force and bravado I haven't seen anywhere else. Her descriptive style is somewhat unsettling and dark but ALWAYS paints a picture so vivid that you can almost see, smell or taste whatever it is she's writing about. It's amazing how real she can make the world she's invented seem. From page one she has you riveted to her story and refuses to let go until the very last page. And what a thrill to be so captivated by a book! To be that caught up in a story is a rare feat, and yet Dunn does it so effortlessly that it belies the incredible talent that goes behind it. 'Geek Love' is the story of a family that is completely unlike yours and yet so familiar that it is almost creepy. Through a family of 'freaks' Dunn eloquently explores a wide array of themes and leaves the reader with much to consider. It is a celebration of the unique and a parable of family. It is about the follies of self-righteousness and the pains of dependency. It is a story of acceptance, of love and devotion, of how far we will go and how terrified we can be to take a single step. Quite simply, 'Geek Love' is brilliant. Everyone should read this book -- it's appeal is universal as is its message. Each person can find something to take from it that may forever alter the way you see the world (and isn't that the hallmark of quality literature in a nutshell?).Book Review: Absolutely Stunning Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite book of all time bar none...Katherine Dunn writes like the twisted offspring of John Irving and Bret Easton Ellis...I don't know what book was slipped to some of the other reviewers here, but there is no way they are reviewing the same book...much of what has been said already is true and plenty of the plot is here...just know that the Binewski family is one of the most demented and loving clans ever featured in literature...bask in Arturo's wit and power...revel at Elly and Iphy's beauty and musical prowess...gasp at the albino barker Oly...wonder about the "normal" one Chick...the characters are more real and you won't be able to decide whether to have pity on them or us...who are the real freaks?...this is Katherine Dunn's best work...her two previous novels pale in comparison, very disappointing...I don't know if anything she does will compare to this novel...I have owned 8 copies of this book and have a ninth copy on the way...people never return it...be cautious in loaning it out...also, the ending will leave you completely stunned...don't look for it...it will blindside you no matter what...I cannot put into words what this book is, it is amazing.Book Review: Amazing!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Geek Love is a dark, forceful novel that delves into places most writers are too fearful to even glance towards, challenging commonly-held societal conventions. It makes you squirm, but it changes you too, lingering in the back of your mind like a bad odor long after its conclusion.
The alluring, mysterious nature of the traveling carnival is an excellent backdrop to this incredible story of infatuation. The Binewski children, mutated genetically by their parents in order to work in the family traveling carnival, are assigned worth individually according to their abilities to draw a crowd, i.e. how atypical they are. While protagonist Olympia, an albino dwarf, would appear unconventional in "the outside world", in the carnival she is terribly normal, made to feel insignificant for her normalcy. This juxtaposition was a very gripping aspect of the story.
Olympia's deep obsession with her older brother Arty was captivatingly multi-faceted. The incestuous nature of the relationship was not an issue; it was instead the feminist undertones of Olympia's submissive servitude of her brother, her "ugly duckling" status in comparison to their sister Iphy (whom Arty prefers) that opens debate and seduces a reader. Her obsession is heartbreaking and poignant, her equivalent of an adolescent affair but combined with the deep love for a family member, one who manipulates her and uses her weakness to his advantage. We can all relate to rejection, to a one-sided teenage love; on the other hand, while Olympia's humanized by her emotional struggle, she opens up a new world to us, with new standards of normalcy.
The universe inhabited by Geek Love will challenge your notions of the ordinary, emotionally investing you in the characters and allowing you to watch their lives play out voyeuristically like a car crash- grim, tragic and inescapable.