Introduction to Oly

Geek Love, a novel written by Katherine Dunn, is an interesting story that follows the lives of the Binewskis and their family circus. The family consists of 5 children with very unique deformities in which their father purposely gave them by experimenting with numerous combinations of prescription drugs during his wife’s pregnancy. The child that this blog will take most interest in will be Olympia Binewskis, better known in the novel as Oly. Oly suffers from many deformities including dwarfism, albinism, as well as pertaining a hunched back. Because of these odd structures and genes she has inherited, she had been used in the families freak show for years and years on end. And it is from her point of view that the entire novel s told through. Being the narrator in Geek Love, we get to see everything that Oly sees. She explains everything through her eyes and how she perceives it. Because of this, the reader cannot help but ask, “Is everything that I read true? Or might it be an over exaggeration of what really happened?” Nonetheless, Oly is a complicated character throughout Katherine Dunn’s novel. She has a deep need to be loved and needed in her life. While the rest of her family members can base their value off a family circus act, Oly seems to only be worthy enough to be the shows announcer. She is not skilled enough to bring in the crowds and have her own act. This privilege falls to her other siblings, for they have developed weirder traits that bring in larger crowds and therefore more money for the family. Oly's main goal throughout her time at the family circus is to do whatever her brother Arty tells her to do. In a way, she becomes the first person of the family that Arty owns and fully committed to himself to. A common theme throughout the novel seems to be this continuous struggle for power over one another. It’s a continuous battle that Oly seems to not take much part in as her siblings do. Oly almost seems as if she sits back and watches it all unravel. She doesn’t take part, but she’ll do her part in trying her best to keep the family together, and to not allow them to separate from themselves. Oly, unlike some of her other siblings, appears to be monstrous from the outside by appearance. But once you get to know her personality, motivations, and drives, you learn that she really is a harmless person trying to make good of a bad family situation. With all forces seemly working against her, it’s amazing that she has been able to keep together what almost seems impossible to keep together. Throughout the novel so far, she has done a great job at being the “bigger” person and calming down her siblings and family members so that they don’t all murder each other. It will be interesting to follow Oly throughout the rest of the novel to see if she can keep it up!