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Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn
Category
Fiction
Plot Summary:
Husband and wife normals come together in a carnival atmosphere. Concerned about their ability to last in their craft, they undertake a scientific path towards genetic mutation, the wife imbibing chemical cocktails during each of her pregnancies in an attempt to produce a child more freakish than the last. From the piano-playing Siamese twins to the hunchback, each child vies to be the most freakish and therefore the most viable and loved of all. Flash forward several years to a post-Binewski carnival world and the dreadful aftermath of the parents’ experimentation becomes horribly clear.
Review:
This was another novel I wasn’t so sure of when I began that quickly won me over. Geek Love is a truly engaging and fantastical book that while seeming so far from most of our realities is actually much closer than any of us would dare admit.
My main complaint: as this novel bounced back and forth between two sections (Binewski carnival and post-Binewski carnival) I became so immersed in the section I was reading I never wanted to leave it. However, Dunn always drug me out and I quickly became as attached to the new section as I was to the prior. Obviously this is not a true complaint and merely underscores that Dunn is an excellent writer, capable of making her flashbacks as compelling as her presents.
Rating:
Reviewed By:
Jill
