"I wanted to like most of them(aside from Arty, who was an all around hideous character)"

Also, I think it was real sharp pointing out that bringing in Sanderson's press clippings in the middle of the narrative was sort of a panic button that Dunn hit when she painted herself into a corner by having a too-unreliable narrator. That's probably more worth looking at than pointing out how hard it is to believe…

My purpose wasn't to psychoanalyze Oly, so I sort of scuttled my argument a bit by getting into that too much. What I'm reacting to is that so much of the criticism seems to revolve around, "Oh, this plot point is weakly developed. Oh, I can't believe this character would act this way. Oh, I can't believe this other…

Once again: to say you don't "buy" that Oly would love Arty presupposes that she is mentally balanced enough to do so rationally. Oly does a lot of things in the novel that suggest she is mentally and emotionally unstable. Blindly following Arty despite his rampant assholery is just one of them. It's a significant…

I don't think that Oly DOES love Arty; I think she just believes she's in love with him. She's obsessed with him for sure. I think she hates him, and always hated him, but doesn't realize it. I think she confuses her obsession and hate for love. Because (a) like the cliche says, hate is the closest emotion to love,…

No, I agree with Farmer John that this common complaint of "I didn't like it because I couldn't relate to any of the characters/all of the characters were so unlikable" is usually bullshit if you mean it to say that unrelatability represents a weakness or a failure of the thing. Who cares if you can't relate to them?…

.
"Al is miserable over his beloved twins being sold to the Bag Man, but feels compelled to put on a brave face because he knows Arturo has all the power and he has none."

Eh. Maybe I'm culturally obtuse, but I'd never heard of Geek Love before the A.V. Club assigned it for homework. But I was born in 1982, which means I was just getting into Goosebumps when "everyone" was reading Geek Love.

Sensei's right, I think, about the violence in the book receiving oblique description. When shocking things happen, we're never told directly; rather, the immediate aftermath is described.

A.I imagine Oly killed herself to protect Miranda. It's one thing to reveal herself to Miranda in a posthumous letter, allowing Miranda to discover and explore the family on her own, in private. It's another to get caught for the murder and have all the same information dredged up in a media circus.

I was assigned A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school and loved it. Later I heard from a few sources that it basically bites a lot of The Tin Drum, and so I'd always wanted to read that book, but never did. Perhaps The Tin Drum could be candidate for Wrapped Up? Or is it too widely acknowledged as a classic to make…

Tim Burton doesn't have the depth for this. Terry Gilliam, probably. David Lynch, certainly.

Art Is What You Make Of It
Geek Love is a treatise against home schooling.

.
"there are no straight characters in the book"

This has been discussed quite a bit in Donna's threads. A lot of people are unclear about Miss Lick's motivations concerning Miranda. Probably Dunn's fault, intentionally or unintentionally (also under debate).

What's more upsetting than anything is that any of us remember the existence of The Master of Disguise at all, even if only to use as a yardstick for things that suck.

lolol Bot FAIL.

.
Here's something off-discussion but Geek Love related.

.
I wasn't as put off by the way Dunn dealt or didn't properly deal with Al and Lil's decline as the kids grew up and Arty took over. Although I admit it could have been handled better, I didn't think the progression of their characters was too unbelievable. I mean, it's not as if they started off as particularly…

.
"It's like John Irving gone completely round the bend."