A Decent Geek Love

By Jasper M

Geek Love is surely a story you have never read before. Written by Katherine Dunn, it is a novel about a crazy-geek circus family and their horrific, beast-like children. The first few pages will confuse, stun, and surprise you- but Katherine pulls the reader in and want to find out what happens next. The book makes you change views on characters, not based on their freakish appearances, but what is inside them. It is horrific but terribly intriguing.

While the book is filled with amazing characters who are delightfully awful and downright horrific, the story is incredibly hard to read. The paragraphs drag on longer than necessary and confuse the reader with unneeded descriptions and analogies that are downright confusing. Some of the description really emphasizes the characters, but other times, it is hacky. The build up of description falls short at the climax, making the reader feeling rushed and confused if they missed something. The book had potentials of being amazing, but only end up being just pretty good. Despite this, it is an enjoyable read and a level of disturbing that can only be done in fiction.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy characters who you both love to despise. It is creative and the writing fits the carnival, circus-freak theme of the whole story. It also has a good message about how people interact and how inner appearances matter more than physical, and despite the flaws, is an enjoyable book.

Geek Love, Katherine Dunn, Alfred A. Knoff, 1983, 348 pages