Katherine Dunn's Geek Love is a uniquely twisted story that I found to be both liberating and disturbing. Consequentially, the two previously mentioned terms are also descriptors for the concept of carnivalesque which is evident in this novel. The generated travelling freakshow in Geek Love is centered around the degradation of deformity. Each offspring of the Binewski family symbolizes the pharmaceutical inventions of Al and Crystal Lil. These 'inventions' become the focal points and economic producers of the carnival. With the children supporting the family, the natural social hierarchy of the family has become inversed. This primarily occurs with Arty who occupies the highest position within the family. Arty feels it is necessary to control his competition in order to alter this mock authority into a seemingly permanent structure. He does this by using his influential power over his siblings through provoking and manipulating the insecurities of Oly, Chick, Elly and Iphy. The parodist nature of this carny family and its followers alter to fit into the mould Arty has specifically designed. This reversal of authority provided Arty with ultimately a monarch status which lead to the success and sequentially the demise of the family legacy.
Despite the intrigued social construction of the travelling carnival, I found the initial idea behind the family business to be the most intriguing aspect of the novel. The notion of creating a freakshow is a violation of human ethics; however Al and Lil justify their actions throughout the novel to keep the reader from reaching such conclusions. The outside world is not as forgiving as the employees of the Binewski family appear to be. This is evident in Vern Bogner's attempted murder of the entire family, excluding Al. Ironically, even after this episode occurerd, Al and Lil fail to acknowledge the public's disdain for their actions. Instead they claim to have done their children a favour by physically preparing them with the necessities for a guaranteed life-long career.
The commodification and capitalization of the Binewski children become the very trait that link the family together. Al's love for Chick is directly linked to the amount of money he is able to earn or save his father from spending. It is not for the obvious reasons this carny family is not like the masses of society, they differ from everyone else in the way that they value one another. From incestual to revenue-hungry underlying motives, the relationships between the members of the family are a far cry from healthy. However this does not mean that there is any absence of love. The family of six never fail to cater to one another's needs in a desperate attempt to please each other (some characters more than others). I believe this continuous theme of undying love is why I truly enjoyed the novel as much as I did. It is evident with Lil and Al at the beginning of the novel through to the end with Oly's actions towards Lil and Miranda. The desire to please the ones you love in a despairing attempt to receive some form of love in return is the driving force behind the characters, the plot line, and the schematics of Geek Love.
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