Geek Love by Kathrine Dunn

Geek Love by Kathrine Dunn.

Summary via Amazon:

Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out–with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes–to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There’s 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.


Reviews:

Jamie -
ok this is my review:

I thought the book was super weird and I didn't understand what was happening most of the time. I didn't like the train-of-thought type paragraphs because it made it feel too fast paced and scattered. I did like the idea of the book but I don't think that it was executed well. No one is likeable, like even if all the characters are messed up, I need to find someone endearing!

But like, the mom was stupid and a druggie, Arty was crazy evil, Chick is nice but doesn't really have a personality, the dad is a jerk, Oly is a weird incestuous dwarf, and Elly and Iphy are like sometimes evil sometimes not. I want SOME character to like, even if they are evil or bad. I don't think the characters had enough fleshing out asides from their freakishness.

                                                                     The Binewskis

I'm like Kelly in that I don't understand what the point was meant to be. Like is it beware of cults? Accept yourself even if you're a freak? DON'T accept yourself for being a freak? Learn how to train flies? I got to the end and I just said "what is the point of this!?"

The plot itself, I don't think ever went anywhere. Why does Oly go from first time interaction with her daughter to planning murder in like a weeks time? Since mostly all the book is in the past, it makes the future parts just seem out of place since none of the plot is there. I get if it's trying to show us WHY Oly is so weird, but I think it was pretty obvious in the beginning and could have been summed up easily. I think the book would have benefited from being either totally in the present, or totally in the past.

I would give the book a 5/10. I'd say it's average, I didn't think anything was amazing but nothing was super horrible either. It had some interesting and disturbing parts, and I think it's purpose was to be disturbing. I just wish there was an actual cohesive and like, meaningful plot.
                                            
                                              Lovely art of Arturto, Oly, and the twins Iphy and Elly.

Also guys is Arty as hot as you'd imagined? Do you wanna totally telepathically be impregnated by that?

Kelly -
Review of Geek Love by Kelly esquire:

What was the point of this book? To demonstrate the lives of freaks? A commentary on family values? Dunn can't seem to make up her mind.

I suppose the supernatural aspects were nice, Chick's powers added an interesting twist to things, but that twist eventually became lobotomy and sperm injection so I don't know how I feel about that. And what was the point of McGurk and the reporter dude characters? To describe maggot growing?

It got on my nerves in the literary sense. Supposedly it was addressed to the daughter, but the author had these moments of being omniscient (like when Olly was describing her daughter almost being caught with a lover by the demented mom in the beginning) and it also just made no sense in the end.

Speaking of the end it was rushed and kind of sucked. Oh a year of nothing passed, oh the kid died and elly and iphy died AND NOW EVERYONE DIES. In the course of like 2 paragraphs. And the last chapters were just messy. I have no idea what was happening in the fight between olly and miss lick and then boom she's being strangled and they both die. And how was the end written out for the daughter if she died during the fight? Was she writing and running around? Is that why it made no sense.
                                                              Mother and daughter bonding

I guess I'll give it a 6/10 for being daringly racy at parts. -2 points for the end. another -2 for saggy boobs and buttocks.

Guilie - 
Alright so let's go ahead and get this over with.

The book Geek Love by Kathrine Dunn was intriguing due to its view on how people think and heard mentality. The whole book is basically about what lengths people will go to in order to feel important, accepted and loved.
 

It was interesting to see this world through the pink eyes of McGurk. She was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the "best" of the Binewski's, but she is not really accepted by the outside world either. Like most children, the Binewski's were competitive, however, they took it to a whole new level, especially Arty. Their love for each other as siblings was shadowed by their desire to draw in the biggest crowd.
 
The cult following that developed showed generally how unhappy people were/ are with their normal lives. Everyone wants to believe they are a special little snowflake and at the same time fit into the mold of society. Special and normal do not mesh well. Because of this, these people are unhappy with their life and decide that Arty seems happy so maybe I should be like him. What I didn't understand, though, was why Arty would have wanted to make other people like him. Was he really messed up in the head enough to believe that it would make people happier? 

                                                                               He does look very happy.

 
The side characters were interesting but not really necessary. I hated the ending. That pretty much ruined the rest of the book for me.
 
Overall I give the book a 7/10. The insight on the psychology of a seriously messed up family was interesting, but that ending was just weak writing.