Geek Love

Arturo Binewski, known as Arty to his family, is born without arms and legs and has flippers instead of limbs. He also becomes known as Aqua Boy in his carnival act, in which he swims in a tank of water. Arty is the oldest of his living siblings and is a natural leader. He is extremely intelligent and self-taught in philosophy and psychology and is a master manipulator. He controls his family to an increasing extent as he grows older, though much of what he does comes from his fear about his place in the world and his lack of self-esteem. He can be charming, cruel, thoughtful, and reprehensible.

Arty founds a quasi-religion called Arturism, with thousands of zealous followers. In order to achieve the group’s tenets of Peace, Isolation, and Purity, members of the Arturan cult have their body parts surgically removed, so that they can become like Arty.

Aloysius Binewski, or Al, is the patriarch of the Binewski clan. Al had inherited the carnival from his father (whose ashes are kept in an urn mounted to the generator truck). He met and married Lil, and when the carnival fell on hard times, Al came up with the plan to produce his own carnival attractions. Driven by the need for his children to be exceptional, Al gives his wife all manner of poisonous and deadly substances in order to create deformed progeny. Al is a showman and scam artist, but he truly loves his family and the carnival. As Arty grows older and supplants Al as the boss of both the family and the Fabulon, Al increasingly loses himself to distractions and drink. 

Lillian Binewski, also known as Lil, Lily, or Crystal Lil, is Oly’s mother. She is beautiful, charismatic, and intensely loves her children. Born to a wealthy Bostonian family, Lil ran away and joined the carnival, where she became a geek, the sideshow act that bites the heads off live chickens. After she can no longer perform, she’s a willing partner in Al’s crazy genetic experiments. Lily sacrifices herself for her love for Al and her children, allowing them to ruin her health by taking poison and drugs. Her mental and physical faculties decline; by the novel’s narrative present, she is virtually blind and deaf and decidedly insane. Lil has no idea that the person who lives in her building is her own daughter, Oly.

Iphigenia Binewski, or Iphy, is half of a pair of conjoined twins. Iphy is gentle and sweet, and kind to her siblings and parents. She loves her twin Elly above all others, though the two often argue and even physically fight. Iphy is in love with Arty, because he loves her in return and treats her much more warmly and thoughtfully than anyone else. Iphy sees the good in everyone and sympathizes with those in pain. Over time, as more and more terrible events befall the lives of the twins, Iphy shows her inner strength and her tougher side. Her love for her baby, Mumpo, is so great that it overcomes even her love for her twin, so Iphy kills Elly, and therefore herself.

Electra Binewski, or Elly, is the other half of the conjoined twins. Elly is hard-hearted, sharp-tongued, and she despises Arty because he loves Iphy, fearing that he will take Iphy away from her. Iphy is Elly’s whole world, the only person she needs. Elly understands the twins’ unique gifts that entice men and pragmatically takes advantage of them. Elly also understands what a menace Mumpo is and what a threat he is to her life with Iphy, so as soon as she is in control of herself enough to do so, she kills the baby.

Fortunato Binewski, known to his family as Chick, is a sweet, gentle little boy and the baby of the family. Though he appears to be a norm, Chick has the most amazing power of any in the troupe: telekinetic ability. He can move objects and people, heal, ease pain, and perform a multitude of other incredible feats via his telekinesis. Chick wants only to please everyone and he’s overwhelmingly sensitive to the feelings of people, animals, and even meat, so he suffers constantly. Lil worries that he’s not allowed to play and be a regular little boy. Eventually, the constant pressure and heartache wear him down, until he finally reaches a breaking point and destroys the carnival in a massive conflagration.

Mary Lick is a wealthy, lonely, mysterious women, the heiress to a processed food empire. She is abrasive and blunt and has no friends when Oly meets her. Miss Lick’s purpose in life is to pay large sums of money to young women to make them physically unattractive, so that men will no longer pursue them sexually and they can reach their intellectual and professional potential. Miss Lick is extremely generous and loyal to Oly and shows her true self. Because she intends to pay to have Miranda’s tail removed, Oly is forced to kill her.

Miranda Binewski is Oly and Arty’s daughter, who grew up in a convent thinking her name was Miranda Barker. She does not know her family history until the very end of the novel, after Oly is dead. She is an extremely talented art student, intelligent, rather rebellious, and a bit bohemian. Despite not knowing her lineage, Miranda displays personality traits and actions characteristic of her Binewski heritage. Most interesting is Miranda’s drawing entitled “Geek Love,” which depicts a chicken about to have its head bitten off, a subconscious homage to her grandmother, Lil.

Horst the Cat Man is a long-time Fabulon employee who cares for the show’s lions and tigers. Utterly loyal and practically a family member, Horst helps the Binewskis in uncountable ways. He is a survivor of the carnival fire, efficiently takes care of all arrangements, and watches over Lil and Oly until Oly is well enough to leave the hospital.