Rating: 
Summary: Spectacular, brilliantly original, exhilarating.
Review: This book restored my faith in modern fiction. If you're sick of writers with their heads up their own posteriors writing about how difficult is is to be a rich, succesful writer READ THIS. If this book had been written in the 1930s-50s it would be a Classic read alongside Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Greene etc. If Russell Hoban, James Thurber, Joe Orton and William S Burroughs had got together to write a book it might have been something like this - but probably not as good. Just one warning: if you read it you will want to buy 10 more copies for your best friends - so it could end up being expensive. Katherine Dunn is truly a genius.
Rating: 
Summary: Look beneath the surface
Review: If you have a weak stomach, love Disney, or are completely repulsed by the idea of freaks, then you may want to consider passing on this book. But if you enjoy the different, the provocative or the metaphoric, then this one's for you. Not only does Dunn's prose pop and sizzle in your ears but it's also infused with the stuff of great literature--characters that come alive, ideas that spark mental-meltdown and the mirror that reflects all that we ignore, fear and wish to hide. It is one of those books that drive you crazy, but at least it drives you somewhere.
Rating:
Summary: memorable
Review: Far from being disturbing, I found this book quite comforting, and have felt like a 'hybrid rose' instead of an oddity ever since reading it (years ago). I have since bought many copies for appreciative friends. Thank you to the New York Times Book Reviews-- if I hadn't read your review, this wonderful and life-altering book would not have caught my eye in the airport book shop...
Rating: 
Summary: A case for a 'negative stars' option
Review: This is the single worst book I have ever read in my life. It tries sooooo hard to be hip and cutting-edge but the writing is atrocious, the 'story' is duller than dishwater. One of those books people pretend to like because they think it's cool.
Rating:
Summary: Geek Love is a Passionate Manifesto of Genuine Literature
Review: Geek Love is one of those rare books that paints a terrifying landscape with the colors of the dark side from each of us. The characters stalk and swagger larger than life, but not above or removed from it. They are life in ways we're not accustomed to viewing it. Katherine Dunn is from Portland, so I'm partial to her, but she constructs a novel here that is so real the characters and events become burned in your mind. It is passion and love and death and revenge and all the elements that not only make good fiction, but reflect on the human condition in all its forms.
Rating:
Summary: Achy Breaky Geeky Love
Review: This is a must read---you will feel as if you know the people in this book and laugh and cry and love with them. It is a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't get it
Review: I read this book for book club and I am one of the few disenters here. A long, involved story with such fast, unsatisfying ending. It was a quick conclusion that left many questions unanswered. Without giving away the ending, can anyone tell me why Ellie did what she did at the end? I cannot find the reason. It's loose ends like this that frustrated me. I also really didn't care for the main characters. I could only sympathize with Oly for so long, I didn't care for Miranda - I only really liked Chick and I felt pretty much only the twins were especailly intrigueing. A lot of reading with little satisfaction for me.
Rating:
Summary: Sick and Twisted Fun (but don't read too many reviews)
Review: I read this book way back when it was brand new and in hardback. My (now ex)wife spotted it at a bookstore (thanks to a neon cover), and the title was enough for us. She read it first, and knowing my tastes (or lack thereof), handed it to me when she was finshed. I'm forever grateful. I couldn't remember having more fun reading a book. This is one for the same crowd that digs "Eraserhead" (or its milder David Lynch sibling, "Twin Peaks") or any of the John Waters exercises in depravity. If you thought that "Twin Peaks" was stupid, you'll quite possibly read this book and wonder how ANYBODY could have enjoyed it (that is, if you make it past the first twenty pages). Part of the fun I had, though, was diving into the book with no real knowledge of what to expect. Heck, the original jacket didn't even have an illustration (as I recall, all I knew up front was that it had SOMETHING to do with a family that bred its own circus freaks). To that end, I think that the reviews do something of a disservice to the potential customer. Part of the joy of this work is seeing what kind of crazy thing will happen next. My advice is as follows. If, after reading this review (and getting a vague idea of what level of good taste NOT to expect), you're thinking about reading Geek Love, do yourself a favor. Don't read any more reviews. Just buy the darn book!
Rating:
Summary: The Price of Individuality
Review: Geek Love is an amazing novel that looks at what others would see as horror and makes it loving and kind. Thank you, Katherine Dunn, for showing prototypical Westerners just how expensive the price of individuality can be.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre
Review: Horrifying and humorous. It starts out strange and gets stranger by the page. I can't stop thinking about this book. It is unlike anything you'll ever read. Do yourself a favor and read GEEK LOVE.
|
