"Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn

Yes! I have an ancient copy that's been on my shelf for years, one of those books that I keep with me as I move around the country. Dunn is brilliant, and so's the book. What'd you think?
 
I've read it - I felt like the main character's narration of her past didn't dovetail very neatly with her narration of the present. It was like, she spent so much time exploring the main character's family in the past, slowly developing strong characters and emotions and motivations, that once she arrived in the present (and w/o hopefully giving too much away) the story was a little emptier, a little lost. (YMMV)
 
rebecca said:
Yes! I have an ancient copy that's been on my shelf for years, one of those books that I keep with me as I move around the country. Dunn is brilliant, and so's the book. What'd you think?
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Heh, a little less well of it than you, I guess. I don't regret reading it, but I thought there were a lot of flaws. Or more specifically, not enough:


Arty was omnipotent. I do not know, since Oly was the POV character, if this is supposed to be due to her being an Unreliable Narrator, but it also seem to affect the "writers" of the epistolary fragments that are included. No one stood up to him. Ever. Elly lashed out at him once or twice, Dr. P allegedly planned some sort of insurrection, but each time these alleged challenges were swept away with little effort. I could go on for days about this. This kind of Mary-Sue level power makes him uninteresting, and makes the extremity of his actions incomprehensible.

Chick might as well been named "Plot Device". It seems to me the only reason he existed as a character was for Dunn's convenience in giving Arty his way, and to provide for the abortive "Chick ex Machina" resolution to the hopeless quagmire of the family history plot.

Miss Lick was a far more interesting character than Arty but a lot of her potential was wasted. Miranda was nothing but a McGuffin. Some of the really interesting people- the Fly Roper, McGurk, Mumpo- get a page or two and then are wasted completely.

Strangely enough, the only character I thought felt any real emotion at all in the whole book was the Bag Man.


I think that most of my criticisms boil down to the fact that it was plot driven, and should have been character driven. There was an awful lot of wasted potential. But that could be my problem- that it isn't the story that I would tell.

What do you think the major theme was here? I'm having a hard time sussing one out.

ETA: I'm glad it was you that's read it Rebecca, I can count on you telling me why I'm wrong. Given the stellar reaction it got on Amazon I have to be, somewhere. :)
 
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Piscivore said:
Heh, a little less well of it than you, I guess. I don't regret reading it, but I thought there were a lot of flaws. Or more specifically, not enough:


Arty was omnipotent. I do not know, since Oly was the POV character, if this is supposed to be due to her being an Unreliable Narrator, but it also seem to affect the "writers" of the epistolary fragments that are included. No one stood up to him. Ever. Elly lashed out at him once or twice, Dr. P allegedly planned some sort of insurrection, but each time these alleged challenges were swept away with little effort. I could go on for days about this. This kind of Mary-Sue level power makes him uninteresting, and makes the extremity of his actions incomprehensible.

Chick might as well been named "Plot Device". It seems to me the only reason he existed as a character was for Dunn's convenience in giving Arty his way, and to provide for the abortive "Chick ex Machina" resolution to the hopeless quagmire of the family history plot.

Miss Lick was a far more interesting character than Arty but a lot of her potential was wasted. Miranda was nothing but a McGuffin. Some of the really interesting people- the Fly Roper, McGurk, Mumpo- get a page or two and then are wasted completely.

Strangely enough, the only character I thought felt any real emotion at all in the whole book was the Bag Man.


I think that most of my criticisms boil down to the fact that it was plot driven, and should have been character driven. There was an awful lot of wasted potential. But that could be my problem- that it isn't the story that I would tell.

What do you think the major theme was here? I'm having a hard time sussing one out.

ETA: I'm glad it was you that's read it Rebecca, I can count on you telling me why I'm wrong. Given the stellar reaction it got on Amazon I have to be, somewhere. :)
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I loved this book a lot when I read it. You make some interesting points though, and I'll have to mull them over and put my thoughts down another time. I'm usually sensitive to plot vs. character inbalances, but I had no such issues with this story.
 
I'm re-reading "On the Road" to cleanse my palette and then I'm going to give this one another go, to see what I missed.

It's funny, I had a very similar experience with DeLillo's "White Noise"- my cousin absolutley loved it but I didn't.
 
I read it many years ago, and then again just a month or two ago. Without giving anything away, I love how the parents, especially the father, felt such obvious affection for the children. Papa's little roses. Beautiful.
 
Piscivore said:
ETA: I'm glad it was you that's read it Rebecca, I can count on you telling me why I'm wrong. Given the stellar reaction it got on Amazon I have to be, somewhere. :)
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As much as I love telling people why they're wrong, this will have to wait. I haven't given it a serious reread in years! My only response at this point has to be, "I read it cover to cover and enjoyed every moment, even (especially?) the moments when I squirmed." If I get a chance to reread it, I'll let you know...

(And sorry to have posted and ran, I totally forgot about the thread.)
 
rebecca said:
As much as I love telling people why they're wrong, this will have to wait. I haven't given it a serious reread in years! My only response at this point has to be, "I read it cover to cover and enjoyed every moment, even (especially?) the moments when I squirmed." If I get a chance to reread it, I'll let you know...

(And sorry to have posted and ran, I totally forgot about the thread.)
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Thanks. I pretty much enjoyed it until the end. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do reread it.
 
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