Geek Love
A Novel
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4.0 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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 amphetamines, arsenic, and radioisotopes.
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A few pages into Katherine Dunn’s dazzling novel, you realize you’ve stepped into a world of fun-house mirrors unlike anything you’ve ever encountered before. After the stars of their circus’ sideshow ran away, two nomadic performers, Crystal Lil and Aloysius Binewski, exposed themselves to drugs, insecticides, and radioactivity to alter their genes and start their own brood of human oddities. But physical abnormalities aren’t the most interesting thing about the Binewski children—their nuanced personalities and hunger for power, love, and connection make for a story that’s as captivating as it is unsettling. Dunn’s writing is so electrifying, the story so imaginative, it’s no surprise that Geek Love has a massive cult fan base.
