Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

What greater gift could you offer your children than an inherent ability to earn a living just by being themselves?

First impression

In case that you haven't read the synopsis of this book and like me, you approached it thinking that the geek part was referring to the "intellectual" geek, let me tell you now. It is not. Geek love is a wonderful book, full of weirdness and sadness and family amongst other stuff, but the geeks in here are what would also be considered as freaks, circus freaks to be exact. The story, told by Olympia Binewski, jumps from past to present, from her own thought to interviewer's notes to show us how she came to be who she is at present and how she was pushed to do whatever she did and will do for love.

Final thoughts

Siamese twins, a hunchback albino dwarf, a boy with no limbs and another boy with an extraordinary mind. Those are the Binewski siblings. For them, being geeks is what makes them unique and none of them would ever want to be a "norm". Some of them love each other but they all love at least one of the others and it is through this love that the story gains its force.

One think that was interesting for me, was that I was reading this book at the same time that I was reading Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler. So during the day I would listen to Dawn and question what makes us human, and then at night I would come to read Geek Love and question what makes us normal and what is so great about it. While maybe not in such extreme as the Binewski family, maybe we shouldn't all want to just be "normal"; having something making us special should always be considered an asset and not a defect.

This book was unexpected in so many ways .Not only I was not expecting this type of geeks; I was not expecting such an intricate relationships or origins for the characters. There was not a single twist that I found predictable and I was actually taken by surprise with a lot of the events, more and more as I advanced in the book.

I wish I would've read something else by the author so I could know if this type of grotesque or extravagant characters is something she uses a lot, or were they just for this book. Because the thing is while you could just concentrate in the physical part of the characters is this as a package for the deep complexity portrayed in their psyche that is so enticing in this book. Most of the characters in this book, even the "norms" are so heavily constructed that even the ones that only appear for a couple of pages remain in my brain even now that I have finished the book.

I can only recommend this book for people who enjoy complex out of the box characters and stories.

[...] because a true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born.

Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury

That’s friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of the other

First impressions

This is the first book from Ray Bradbury. I have to thank the Estella’s Project for finally pushing me to start with him. The book turned out to be part of a series of sorts, all 4 books taking place in Green Town, but I didn’t know this when I first started reading the book. Luckily it feels like they are more of companion novels, so I was able to enjoy this one without reading the other one.

Final thoughts

This book tells a story of friendship, between two boys entering their teenage years James Nightshade and William Halloway, borne only minutes apart from each other, and best friends since forever. This autumn a carnival comes into town, and it comes with fear and evil doing but only the boys are aware of it at first. They see the real power of the carnival, and while it might be able to award the deepest desires of everyone in town, this comes with a price, as it always does in magic.

How convenient that I read Doll Bones about the same time, since they both send me back to the time when I was 12/13 years old. Both a bit creepy and both showing beautiful friendships.

Something wicked carries its name appropriately; reading the descriptions of both the carnival and the characters living in the carnival send chills down my spine, and I was reading this in my patio in the middle of summer, so believe me, this was compelling writing. Considering this books was first published in 1962, it is remarkable how the characters don’t feel dated, not in the way they talk, nor in the situations presented.

The tone, the rhythm and the construction of characters makes for a very fluid read, and so I finished the book in one single day. I did not want to put down the book, and only the fact that I fell asleep made me stop. I would recommend this book to everyone if I could.