This is my most favorite book in the entire world and this fourth or so reread of it did not change my opinion. There is nothing out there like this amazing book. So plunk down your two bits and step on in because you won't believe what you're about to see. That is a guarantee from my lips to your ears. After listening to the final words of this novel, you may be disturbed, you may be heart-broken, but you will most definitely not be the same as you were when you started. Her voice captures and conveys perfectly the range of emotions felt by the characters and draws the listener into the story, appropriately enough, like a slick and experienced pitch-man. Christina Moore brings each character to life through changes in pitch, cadence, tone, and diction. Where Christina Moore, the narrator of this title, is concerned: I do not think I have ever heard a more lively or enthralling performance of an audiobook. As I listened, I experienced both the thrill of their rise and the pain of their disturbing disintegration. Aside from being a powerful exploration of freakdom, the novel is also the chronicle of a family that is, in their own highly unorthodox way, as all-American as any other.

What is a freak? Who makes somebody a freak? How does a person become a freak? What is the life of a freak like? Do freaks love? Why are so-called normal people both repelled and grotesquely attracted to freaks? Katherine Dunn explores all of these questions and more with a refreshing candor and a remarkable amount of compassion. It is a novel that explores what it means to be a freak. Of all the novels and stories I have read that are included in the growing cannon of 'transgressive fiction', 'Geek Love' is both the greatest of those works, and the one that is most truly transgressive. 'Geek Love' is a rare piece of fiction, one that lives up to its highest praise and proves wrong its detractors. The only negative thing I have to say is that Katherine Dunn doesn't have a book for you to read after this! If you ever saw or know about the Showtime series 'Carnival,' I recommend that as a tame yet wonderful companion. I had my book group read this and they couldn't believe how much they loved it and how much we continue to bring it up year after year.

I can't recommend this book enough to everyone who loves literature, great literature. They are so real yet your mind will shutter at the thought of their actual existence. Katherine Dunn has created a menagerie of characters that defy your imagination.

(If you've read 'Water for Elephants' I consider that a book about the circus and not terribly interesting.) This book is about being human and how we treat others when all we see is the outward appearance and don't consider the person on the inside. I have been waiting for 3 years to get this book on Audible! I'm not into books about the circus or the people in them but this isn't a 'circus' book.

Geek love cover