Aside from dosing his willing wife with bizarre drug cocktails in order to sire a brood of freaks to populate his carnival, Al seems like a model father at the beginning of the book, but our view of him changes as the book progresses. I also admire the way the reader’s ideas about Al and Crystal Lil as parents changes slowly. P, both of whom are hard to stomach for different reasons, and you have a virtuoso ensemble cast. Throw in lesser characters like the Bag Man and Dr. Dunn could have easily fell into trite cliché when she has the two conjoined girls bicker and fight, but their personalities are rich enough that it’s never an issue. Elly and Iphy, the Siamese twins, are also done well, especially after they blossom into sexual maturity. His slow seizure of power behind the scenes at the Binewski Fabulon and his exploitation of his followers after the inception of the Aruturan amputation cult are handled perfectly.
Arturo the Aqua Boy is deftly handled, a megalomaniacal little turd whose true gift is not his freakish nature, but his incredible powers of manipulation. Geek Love has a handful of the most memorable characters you’ll ever find. On the other hand, I thought it was sloppily edited, and Dunn’s prose ran the spectrum from sublime to clunky and ridiculous. On the one hand, it had a more profound impact on me than books-even some truly great ones-usually do.
I had a schizophrenic reaction to this book.
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