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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
This is a bizarre book, but as I do my periodic sweeps of my bookshelves, i can't seem to let it go. It was well-written and engrossing. But bizarre. Who knows--I may reread it at some point. :)
Geek Love is not a long read at 350 pages, but each line really demands your attention—so much seems packed into every sentence. The opening passage sets the tone perfectly:
The plot is difficult to describe in words that don’t sound extreme. The story follows a family of mutant carnies, the eldest brother’s rise to cult leader status, and his siblings’ relationships with him—awe, disgust, and infatuation.
Yet in spite of the eccentric premise, the story never loses sight of its characters, through pain and triumph. For all its dark details, there’s a lot of heart.
“When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets,” Papa would say, “she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized with longing. ‘Spread your lips, sweet Lil,’ they’d cluck, ‘and show us your choppers!’”
The plot is difficult to describe in words that don’t sound extreme. The story follows a family of mutant carnies, the eldest brother’s rise to cult leader status, and his siblings’ relationships with him—awe, disgust, and infatuation.
Yet in spite of the eccentric premise, the story never loses sight of its characters, through pain and triumph. For all its dark details, there’s a lot of heart.
La reseña completa en http://inthenevernever.blogspot.com/2019/03/de-katherine-dunn.html
“Pensaban utilizarme y avergonzarme, pero les venzo por naturaleza, porque un verdadero monstruo no se hace. Un verdadero monstruo nace”.
Ferias, sectas, amor incondicional y también amores posesivos, tóxicos y enfermizos… Amor de monstruo, de Katherine Dunn, nos habla del amor y el egoísmo. Nos muestra la desintegración de una familia, la pérdida de las figuras paternas como refugio, salvadores y consuelo, para verlos como verdaderamente son: seres humanos que tratan de hacerlo como mejor pueden mientras cometen errores. Es una novela que inspira la mayor de las ternuras y también el más grande de los horrores, porque lo monstruoso no será el aspecto de sus protagonistas, sino algunas de sus acciones. Imposible de clasificar en un solo género literario, es muy fácil ver por qué la historia ha cautivado a tantos lectores diferentes y se ha convertido en un libro de culto. No puedo sino invitarlos a que le den una oportunidad y que dejen que Dunn los lleve a un viaje con unos protagonistas que no podrán olvidar.
“Pensaban utilizarme y avergonzarme, pero les venzo por naturaleza, porque un verdadero monstruo no se hace. Un verdadero monstruo nace”.
Ferias, sectas, amor incondicional y también amores posesivos, tóxicos y enfermizos… Amor de monstruo, de Katherine Dunn, nos habla del amor y el egoísmo. Nos muestra la desintegración de una familia, la pérdida de las figuras paternas como refugio, salvadores y consuelo, para verlos como verdaderamente son: seres humanos que tratan de hacerlo como mejor pueden mientras cometen errores. Es una novela que inspira la mayor de las ternuras y también el más grande de los horrores, porque lo monstruoso no será el aspecto de sus protagonistas, sino algunas de sus acciones. Imposible de clasificar en un solo género literario, es muy fácil ver por qué la historia ha cautivado a tantos lectores diferentes y se ha convertido en un libro de culto. No puedo sino invitarlos a que le den una oportunidad y que dejen que Dunn los lleve a un viaje con unos protagonistas que no podrán olvidar.
The fact that this book is about real geeks - circus freaks who bite the heads off live chickens - should be some indication of the warped nature of the story...
lolantaczyta.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/katherine-dunn-geek-love/
When we began reading this in my college English course, my professor said: "you will never think of the word 'normal' the same again". Twists and turns and thousands of takes: this novel may not sit right with you; it's full of ethical questions and dark plot. But what this offers the disability community, at the end of the day, is the "normative binary" set in literature. If you've ever questioned what it means to "be normal", or why we even have a normativity scale at all, this is the book for you.
This is officially the first book I've ever read twice all the way through. I remembered loving it the first time, but it didn't quite grab me the second time. I love the story and the characters, but I think the telling of it was lacking a bit. The chapters of "notes for now," though completely necessary, drag so much that I found myself cringing every time I came upon one. What is it about writers from Portland that love to write about bad people doing bad things. Even the one redeeming character, Olympia, is good to a fault. She loves her family so much she would sacrifice anything, including herself, to see them through. Maybe Portland is really vanilla or perhaps it has one of the seediest underbelly's in all of America. Either way, keep writing these slimy novels and I'll continue to pick them up. I just can't help it.