Product Description

Lil Binewski, born a Boston aristocrat, was in her time the most stylish of geeks. That is to say she made her living by biting the heads off live chickens in front of a Carnival audience. This she gave up for doting motherhood, because she had her fairground- owning husband had a money spinning idea. Throughout each pregnancy Lil gobbles pesticides, experiments with drugs and douses herself with radiation to ensure that she prodcues infants grotesque enough to keep the turnstiles clicking. She does. Arturo the Aqua Boy is a limbless megalomaniac, Electra and Iphigenia are musically gifted Siamese twins with a penchant for prostitution and Fortunato is possessed of stange telekinetic powers. Their story- by turns shocking, tender, touching and cruel- is narrated by their sister Olympia. She is a bald, hunchbacked, albino dwarf.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20231 in Books
• Published on: 1990-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'If Flannery O'Connor has consumed vast quantities of LSD, she might have written like this.' LITERARY REVIEW 'A book of bizarre and brutal beauty, guaranteed to wring from you horror and heartbreak by turns...' COMPANY 'Riveting and extremely well-crafted. There's a real philosophy behind it where it actually touches on the profound.' MARGARET FORSTER 'A novel that everyone will be talking about, a brilliant, suspenseful, heartbreaking tour de force.' PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY 'So monumentally tasteless that it ought to have a sick bag incorporated into its jacket design. It is also hilarious, vital and original... mesmerising, chilling and curiously uplifting- the brilliant production of a brilliant imagination.' STANDARD

About the Author
Katherine Dunn is a journalist, an advice columnist, and boxing correspondant for the Associated Press.

Customer Reviews

The true nature of love shines throughout this book
I first heard about this book via a song called 'Geek Love' by a band called Bang Bang Machine. (as far as I'm aware, the song is based on the book) The song talks of what is to 'love but never be loved'. Years later I came across the book, and from the minute I picked it up I couldn't but it down.
It really does explore the nature of human relationships - of love, of family, and of societies non-acceptance of anything not of the 'norm'. Katherine Dunn really has written a powerful account of what it is to love somebody/something and never really be loved in return. And although the book is centered around 'geeks' it tells a story of human emotion that everyone - even perfect looking humans can relate too.

Electrifying, Unique, Fiction is not dead!
This book restored my faith in modern fiction. If you're sick of writers with their heads up their own posteriors writing about how difficult is is to be a rich, succesful writer READ THIS. If this book had been written in the 1930s-50s it would be a Classic read alongside Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Greene etc. If Russell Hoban, James Thurber, Joe Orton and William S Burroughs had got together to write a book it might have been something like this - but probably not as good. It is usually a mistake to try to explain the plot to anyone because it just sounds like some sort of disgusting freak-fest that should only appeal to teenage boys. I just insist that people read it and 99% of them have been hooked from the first page. Dunn writes as though the characters are real people to her - so they appear real to us. The book has a sort of contagious magic about it, I felt happy for a week after finishing it, but it was a "sad" happiness; I had lost the wonderful world I had been drawn into but I felt changed by the experience (a cliche, but true). I thought I would never again feel like I did as a teenager when discovering Graham Greene, or Tolkein, or CS Lewis, or E Nesbitt, but Geek Love made me fall in love with books again. Just one warning: if you read it you will want to buy 10 more copies for your best friends - so it could end up being expensive. Katherine Dunn is truly a genius.

A stunningly fantastic read
I was recommended this book by a work colleague and I'll listen to her recommendations again. An absolutely fantastic story, poignant and extremely funny. Characters in this book actually made me feel physically angry, while others made me want to cry. And oh the description of The Fist... hee hee hee. Read Geek Love you won't be disappointed.