Currently Reading: Geek Love

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I can't remember when or where I heard the title Geek Love, but its been on my To Read list for quite awhile.  Despite its longevity on the list, I virtually knew nothing about it.  My assumption (based on absolutely nothing) was that it was about nerdy people needing love too (yes, we do).  After page one, it because really clear that I was totally wrong.  Geek Love is about a family of circus performers who have been essentially bred by their parents to be "freaks".  There are Siamese twin girls, a brother with flippers instead of arms or legs, and the narrator, an albino hunchback.  The mother takes different variations of drugs during her pregnancies in order to have these "freak" babies.  Now, I know this sounds totally depraved and messed up, but its fiction.  And really good fiction at that.  The kids' "specialties" are almost insignificant in that they still have the same problems as any other family: jealousy, the fight for attention, the desire to be the favorite, the most loved.  It is the family dynamic that really makes this story a great one.  I'm only about halfway through, but can see the total destruction of the family coming.  It will be interesting to see how it all falls apart.