Rating: 
Summary: Transgressiveness without any depth.
Review: I read somewhere that critics called this "a collaboration between John Irving and David Lynch," but frankly, it doesn't have the depth of neither one of them. Transgressiveness is not bad if it provides some insight in to human nature but I had difficulty seeing what that was in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: 10
Review: Be prepared for the most bizarre read..but anyone who likes the unusual, the weird or strange will love it. I personally have always been fascinated with carnies and the freaks....Have read it twice and will do so again.A great read, you'll love or hate it....no middle ground.
Rating:
Summary: What was the point?
Review: I just didn't get the point of this book and don't understand all these high ratings. I was ready to toss it aside after the first chapter when the author tells us that Lil and Al deliberately set about trying to create freaks. Then I thought I'd keep going because maybe there was some lesson about humanity about to be imparted. Then I was ready to toss it aside again when we're introduced to the jars in the Chute. What kept me reading? A morbid fascination, I guess, similar to what makes people want to slow down and stare at grisly car wrecks. By the end of the book, though, I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to take away from this book. There was not one redeeming character in it. Was there a plot? It seemed to me like the reader was just taken on an aimless journey through the years with the Binewski clan, for no good reason. Then we're brought back to the present time, where Olympia is stalking the woman who wants to alter her daughter. That was the most emotionally believable part of the book. I guess this book went over my head.
Rating: 
Summary: What is wrong with me?
Review: Everyone here and at rec.arts.books seems to love this book. I feel it had no redeeming value at all. It is without doubt the most worthless piece of crap that I have read in years. And you people who liked it worry me a little! 8) I know this is not the type of review wanted here, but it is more than this book merits.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read!
Review: _Geek Love_ is a must-read for anyone who loves daring 20th century fiction. Although the subject matter, a family of carnival-freak children, is an odd one at best, the book covers themes that will strike a resonant chord in virtually all readers. Be prepared to get food for thought on diverse questions such as "Just what is 'normal' anyway?" and "How do those weird religions get started?" Katherine Dunn's _Geek Love_ is original, entertaining, and powerful, a book that will be enjoyed by new readers for decades to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Geek Love or "Have you hugged your chicken tonight?"
Review: GEEK:(slang) A carnival performer who publicly eats or swallows live animals (e.g. biting off heads of chickens) as a sensational or horrifying spectacle. You ever get the feeling that ya wanted to go, or that you wanted to stay, or that you wanted to go? Like the Jimmy Durante song, readers find themselves torn between tossing Geek Love in the trash UNDER the kitty litter bag, and ravenously tearing through the pages to devour more. Katherine Dunn's interpretation of the lives of carnies and gypsies takes the reader on an "E" ticket ride through dark and erie turns of the psychie. (We AIN'T talkin' tea cups!) The characters are so colorful, and dialogue so intrensic to their bizzar surroundings, one wonders if Geek Love was based on real-life-stories. Put your seats in the upright position, light the fireplace, grab your favorite blankie (you'll need it) and a hot toddy (you'll need that, too), and get prepared for the ride of your life with an unexpected twist at the end. It's a love story for the gruesome at heart.
Rating:
Summary: So creepy you just can't stop reading!
Review: Geek Love is the only book I've started all over again the moment I was done. It's a read like I've never had. I kept reading with a slightly uneasy voyeuristic feeling throughout....but COULDN'T STOP! Sad...creepy....sick...wonderful....touching book. Just read it. Now. Now!
Rating:
Summary: Creative, interesting, loved it
Review: I bought a signed paperback from the public library donation bin yrs. ago for 50 cents. All of my friends loved it, until someone finally kept it. I didn't realize it was such a cult book but I can understand why. Circus life & freaks are always facinating and this is the focal point of Geek Love. A family of pre-determined side-show freaks. Through fiction, Dunn gives a reality to the Benewski family's strange circus life. The readers curioustiy can't refuse to take a peak into the side show tent. The family members minds and emotions are molded by their abilities and inabilities, good and evil, weak and strong. Hey, they really are just human!!!!! Murder, mystry, all that good stuff plus an extra dose of strangeness. Hey it's a family affair.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible can be terrific
Review: I really liked the freaks in this book. There was something that made talking about it ok, where usually we do not talk about people's deformities, physical or mental. These people are very normal. So are we when we are done. Really a good read. Comforting.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T LET THIS RIDE STOP!
Review: No other book has ever changed my outlook on the world like this riveting piece of literature has. I feel so simplistic if I compare myself to Olympia and her siblings. Gee, it would be nice to always have a job by just being myself.
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