_Geek Love_ by Katherine Dunn.

[Thelema]

I finished reading this great novel yesterday and I'm over the moon about it. I wept, laughed, smiled, cringed... and couldn't help but constantly marvel at its absolute power and unique beauty.

It's a powerful statement on prescribed culture, love, and, primarily, embracing your uniqueness.

[mable]

Originally Posted by Thelema

I finished reading this great novel yesterday and I'm over the moon about it. I wept, laughed, smiled, cringed... and couldn't help but constantly marvel at its absolute power and unique beauty.

It's a powerful statement on prescribed culture, love, and, primarily, embracing your uniqueness.

The title alone makes me wanna read it.

[in_limbo*]

i heard of this book ages ago- and like mable said the title alone made me want to read it. i still haven't read it but seeing this i think i'll make more of an effort to get a copy.

[Amy!]

Favorite book ever, I read it every couple years and it never fails to impress me. There are so many facets to the story, so many issues and so many characters to identify with in such a bizarre manner. Not to mention it's about circus freaks and really, what's better than a book about circus freaks?

[red ribbons]

Such a great book, I marveled at it.

[Thelema]

Originally Posted by Lula

There are so many facets to the story, so many issues and so many characters to identify with in such a bizarre manner.

Indeed! One of the things I loved about the book, which added depth to it, was that Dunn did not resort to a simplistic black and white "goodguys vs. badguys" kind of characterization.

I actually found bits of myself in almost all of the characters, which resulted in a shared empathy for just about all of them.

Regarding the book's theme: apart from the aforementioned, the book deals with a lot of other issues.

From Dunn's own mouth, explaining what drove her to write the novel:

Well, it [the novel] arose out of two long-term concerns: the first being the possibility of genetic manipulation, nature versus nurture, what constitutes how people get to be how they are. I think genetic research is a fascinating and fertile area. I first heard about it in the early 1970s. The second is the structure and source of cults. They have always haunted me, and I wanted to explore the fundamental notion of giving up responsibility to an outside power.

[Mayhem Manifesto]

Haha, that was a weird ass book. But I also dig weird stuff, so yeah. I want to read more of Katherine Dunn's books but I think all but Geek Love are sadly out of print

[youwerewild]

I <b>loved</b> that book. It took me a very long time to read, but it was so engrossing and beautiful. I want to read it again but I gave it to a friend to read (she's never read it).

[BellaBoo]

Originally Posted by Mayhem Manifesto

Haha, that was a weird ass book. But I also dig weird stuff, so yeah. I want to read more of Katherine Dunn's books but I think all but Geek Love are sadly out of print

I just picked up a copy a couple of days ago at a half-priced book store (I only paid $2!!). So I'm sure you can find it out there..

Also, I'm about 100 pages into the book and can't put it down. But I'm a little confused at times about what is happening with this STRANGE family.

[samaida124]

I adored this book, too. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I couldn't put it down. Even though we were dealing technically with "freaks" Dunn did a very good job of making them rounded out complex human characters.