2.33k reviews for:

Geek Love

Katherine Dunn

3.87 AVERAGE

colorofgrass's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

effemar's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Weird uncomfortable and poisonous family drama FOREVER!!!

chrisfowler618's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

---

I will never forget this book- one of my all time favorites.

emxlxtorre's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I picked this book up ages ago on a social media recommendation, but didn't actually read it until last week. I was in a reading slump and grabbed something random off my bookshelf to get myself out of it, and colour me pleasantly surprised when I genuinely loved this book. Katherine Dunn has such a way of crafting turns of phrase, which gives the story such a specific colour and ambience. I was expecting a book more focused on the how and why when it came to the creation of the family of freaks, but it's a lot more like a memoir, which I think was the right choice. No one in the story is really loveable, but Dunn skirts the line between understandable and evil in a masterful way that kept me wanting to see where things went. Truly a phenomenal book, all killer no filler, very fitting for a book about carnivals and freakshows; it must be seen to be believed.

samanthamurk's review against another edition

4.0

---

read for portland frinq class
i liked this book but it was hard to get through idk it was cool just didn’t have too much of a point

edinareads's review against another edition

3.5

dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

cuttingteeth's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

gnpunpun's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Can we add grotesque as a tag? Cause that’s what this was. Disturbing, makes your skin crawl and your stomach churn for sure. What I liked most about this book was the sibling relationships and how real they felt despite the siblings themselves being quite unreal. Their dynamics are so interesting and it’s what pulled me into this book, was seeing how they felt about each other and how that caused conflicts, and how Oly was able to recognize all these feelings so easily. A very interesting read, catches you very off guard at times. I don’t really care for how it jumps back and forth since it barely really…jumps back. I know it was important to show how Oly is as a person, but I didn’t care for it. The recollection was much more intriguing than the present. I did appreciate how it showed how Oly is so stuck in the past, maybe that’s why the present seemed so lacking. I’d say if you like something that scares you not because it could jump out of your closet, but because you might find it walking beside you on the street i’d say read it! But not if you don’t have a good stomach, truly. 

readercedar's review against another edition

---

Jesus Christ. What a shit show.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

kp_can_read's review against another edition

5.0

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes