The WTF? Book Club discussion

Who am I to defy a democratic vote?! The Wasp Factory it is! However, I re-read that only a month or so ago. So it is still fresh for me - and I am already looking forward to discussing it!

So instead I am going to read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn as was suggested for the vote. If anyone would like to join me we can throw open discussion!

I must say I am about a third of the way through and am really enjoying it.

I finished reading Geek Love yesterday. And wow! I really enjoyed it. Really, really enjoyed it.

Yet, I found it impossible to 'like' any of the characters. Each one of them had a personality defect (in addition to many of them having the physical defects) that I found insurmountable to accept and like them in spite of. I also felt a really knot of grim abhorrence at quite a few points with regards to the events of the book. The damage caused throughout by the complicated relationships and strong personalities is something I found deeply compelling. The fact that I still enjoyed the story so much is testament to the power of Katherine Dunn's story-telling.

I really loved this book and actually found it surprisingly moving, especially in terms of how this bizarre family unit is slowly torn apart under the strain of Arturo's megalomaniac desires. It's with these cult like followers and Dunn's potrayal of power of belief which made me draw alot of comparisons to Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor" and the space monkey's of "Fight Club", while Dunn has previously states that she was heavily inspire by events such as the Jonestown Massacre.

I can't say that felt the same about the characters, as while many of them are truly repulsive, especially in their actions such as the self made freak "The Bag Man" and Arturo especially as his power grows, I still couldn't help but care for many of the characters, especially as they are despite their physical and personality quirks still a believable family unit.

True the start is a little slow but once the story gets going I found it hard to put this one down, even after numerous re-reads I still get a kick out of it like Theodore Rozak's "Flicker".

Don't get me wrong! I loved the family as whole and politics that played out was powerful. But individually I found it hard to muster warm feelings towards. I was rooting for Oly, but her pandering (as with Iphy) to Arty riled me. I wished that they didn't feel so compelled to please him. And it was that which destroyed my ability to like them. In terms of the story, I'm glad they did, it would have been rather boring otherwise (family of freaks mooch about the country in a Walton style gay-o-time - not quite as interesting).

I tried to explain this book to my other half. It is hilarious how utterly ridiculous it sounds when you try and give a synopsis of events! He looked at me disgusted. But given that I really felt it was all believable. Maybe that is why I reacted so strongly to the characters. I wanted to go to the Fabulon, put my foot down to Arty and mother Chick, Oly and stop the twins bickering! This is wholly mad, as you say, Arty was a powerhouse, I'd have probably had less than no effect. Ha!

I'm about halfway through this one. I have to admit my apprehension completely disappears after the first couple of chapters. Dunn weaves such a fantastic story with such rich characters that I find this a hard one to put down. I also find that I'm both completely disgusted and utterly intrigued by Artie.

It does take a couple of chapters to get going and then it just pulls you in completly. Still possibly one of the hardest books to make sound as good and suprisingly moving as it is, without generally freaking people out with the family's antics.

Still no idea how they planned to make a film version of this book, which Johnny Depp was unsuprisingly attached to awhile back.