Katherine Dunn’s book Geek Love is a captivating tale of the brutal sibling warfare that is part and parcel of any large family. What makes her book unique is the setting that allows her to explore the far fringes of these battles while informing us about our own reality. In some ways it me reminds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss Whedon used the implausibility of horrible monsters to explore common themes in teenage lives from alienation to sex. In Geek Love, Katherine Dunn uses the extreme universe of the circus freak to explore the hell hole that is family.
In her book, the siblings are a collection of circus freaks and the parents the circus masters. The freaks are not some accidental genetic mutation but the explicit creation of the pater familia. He and his wife to create their mutant freaks, consume vast quantities of drugs that are designed to create mutations. And although we are meant to recoil from this form of parenting, how different is it, really, from any father who tries and to make his children into whatever image he has of them?
Starting from this extreme point in space, we then begin a descent into the mad, mad world that is Binewski family, a tale that is recounted to us by Olympia the last surving member of the clan. We learn about Arturo, Aqua Boy, the siamese twins and chick.
There are three basic threads that emerge. The first is the story of how Arturo slowly claims ownership of the circus, usurping his father’s power. The second thread is the tale of how Arturo rather than admit he is abnormal uses the power of his voice and show to convince normal people that because they are not like him they are abnormal. The third tale is the tale of stunted lust between Olympia, the twins and Arturo.
Interspersed within these threads we learn about the day-to-day life of being a freak, being in a circus, and being a member of this very unique family.
This is a good book. Disturbing, but a good book. I suspect it is disturbing because it forces us all to look at the freaks and wonder are we really that different from them?
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