Geek Love by Katherine DunnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very dear friend of mine recommended I read this book after I had told her of a story idea I was wrestling with. At first I thought the recommendation had been merely superficial. Oly was albino and my protagonist was too. They were both outsiders and freaks in their own way. There was also Arturo's cruelty which in the last half of the book became nightmarish, at least for me. The twins' rape and forced pregnancy, his continual obstruction of their attempted abortions, their resulting captivities... I think it strikes at a very primal and profound fear shared by anyone capable of bearing children against their own will.
The book seemed inconsistent to me. At times it bored me to tears, especially in Miranda's chapters. And when it seemed to pick up in interest and excitement it puttered off by introducing new characters I knew nothing about and I had to, once more, begin to build interest in them. When I read the author's bio and she mentioned having to learn how to write a book coherently it made sense to me. This book was lovely, but it seemed written by someone who hadn't quite gotten the hang of novels yet.
All this to say that I hadn't quite understood why my friend thought the book would be useful for me, albino protagonists and cruel brothers notwhithstanding.
Then I came across this quote:
"Iphy, listen. He wouldn't have hugged us anyway. They are never going to want to hug us or cuddle up afterward. They are always going to get right out of bed and zip up still wet and go away."
The entirety of the twins' prostitution was fascinating and it was exactly what I had been thinking of for some time, what I had, I thought, fruitlessly tried to communicate to my friend. That being beautiful in a way that is unconventional, that being wanted while being imperfect, is its own purgatory, where you are always in danger of the predatory nature of desire, but never protected by your value as an ornament.
And somehow all these things were always in this book, permeating its very core, in the story of Miranda and Mrs. Lick though I had found them boring before. In Oly's resentment towards the twins and their own precarious position as beautiful and desirable but never normal. And my friend, in recommending this book to me, had known me better than I'd known myself.
Because this quote and all the others relating to the twins' careers as prostitutes, and Mrs.Lick's suspicious zeal against female beautyf, made me love a book I had merely tolerated before. I think I will hug it and cuddle up with it afterwards, in spite of all its flaws.
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