Wow. How do you even begin to review the strangest book you have ever read? Without a doubt Katherine Dunn is one of the bravest writers out there! The woman has taken the most bizarre story and reported on it so matter-of-factly one almost has to read each line twice to make sure you’re getting it right.

Geek Love is a story of the Benewskis, a carnival family travelling through America. The story is narrated by Oly Benewski who is, of all things, a bald albino hunchback dwarf. Her obscurity, however, pales in comparison to those of her siblings. Between the siamese twins, the aqua boy and the telekinetic child she is hardly special. She systematically tells of how her parents met (her father ran the circus, her mother was a geek – no, not OUR kind of geek – the kind of geek that bites the head off of chickens!) of how she and her siblings came to be (her father fed her mother cocktails of poisons and cocaine and pesticides during her pregnancies) and of how her brother became the leader of the worlds most insane cult.

The entire book is sheer brilliance, not unworthy of being compared to John Irving. As I said before Katherine Dunn writes with pure bravery. She is unafraid to offend or shock her readers, yet she somehow accomplishes this without coming off as disingenuous in the least.

Definitely well worth the read!