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Freaks' Amour
Book by De Haven, Tom
276 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 1978
2 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Tom De Haven
39 books38 followersTom De Haven is the author of five novels: Freaks' Amour, Jersey Luck, Funny Papers, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies, and Dugan Under Ground; a collection of three related novellas, Sunburn Lake; and a three-novel series, Chronicle of the King's Tramp, which includes Walker of Worlds, The End-of-Everything Man, and The Last Human. His latest novel for young adults, The Orphan's Tent, was published in 1996, and his latest graphic novel, Green Candles, in 1997. He has previously published two young adult novels, two graphic novels, and various other innovative fiction projects.
De Haven has a richly varied experience as a writer, having worked as a freelance journalist, an editor, and a film and television scriptwriter. His book reviews appear regularly in Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times Book Review. His awards include a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and he has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Before joining VCU's faculty, De Haven taught at Rutgers and Hofstra University.
De Haven has a richly varied experience as a writer, having worked as a freelance journalist, an editor, and a film and television scriptwriter. His book reviews appear regularly in Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times Book Review. His awards include a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and he has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Before joining VCU's faculty, De Haven taught at Rutgers and Hofstra University.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 6, 2008
Why is this brilliant, dark, original, novel out of print? Okay, that's not a review, but it's criminal that De Haven's masterpiece is not in the pantheon of modern literature. This darkly humorous piece of social-satire-sci-fi is a book worth revisiting every few years. And for those who've never had the pleasure, track down a used copy and treat yourselves.
January 14, 2013
Mutants on the Outside, Looking In
Hardcore. That’s the word that comes to mind. But not just because Freaks’ Amour refers to a XXX rated show where Normals go to watch mutant men rape their wives and girlfriends (and for a finale the Normals pelt them with rotten fruit). The sex scenes are not particularly graphic, and they don’t need to be. The idea itself is hardcore enough… and that’s just the beginning.
This powerful novel takes place in a world where a small nuclear explosion in Jersey City has created a race of mutants with a wide variety of bizarre attributes: fur, gills, bird claws, misshapen skulls and limbs. Animals, too, mutated, including giant gold fish that produced tiny, hard-shelled eggs…Death Eggs, so named because they seemingly kill anyone who consumes them.
The death only lasts for a few hours, during which time the dead float in the void, approaching but never reaching the lights ahead. This experience becomes so attractive that many people, both Freaks and Normals, become addicted.
In this world, the Fistick twins, Grinner and Flourface, scramble to survive. Grinner and his wife Reeni perform Freaks’ Amour — at least until Reeni declares her intention to quit participating in the violent and degrading spectacle. This throws a monkey wrench into Grinner’s plan to save enough money for the Syntha-Skin operation that will make him, and Renni, appear normal.
Flourface, ashamed of what he sees as his brother’s self-loathing, woos Reeni and deals in Death Eggs. Reeni teeters between the two of them, her husband and her friend, the twins she’s known since childhood, now angry rivals standing on opposite sides of a philosophical dilemma: to seek entry into the world of Normals at any cost, or to stand proudly as Freaks.
This novel is written a stylistically savvy, original voice, a sort of futuristic hardboiled Jersey dialect that’s quirky and engaging. The story perks along at an entertaining clip, and the names of the characters and the chapters give humorous nods to the worlds of graphic novels and pulp fiction.
But make no mistake, despite the exuberantly carnivalesque package, the concerns of this story are literary: how to do we reconcile ambition and love? What does it mean to be outside looking in, and how far can we go in our efforts to reverse that without losing some essential part of our humanity?
In fact, Freaks’ Amour unfolds like a Greek tragedy. We watch the main character being slowly undone by his fatal flaws. We hope he will pull himself out before it’s too late. And like all great tragedies, we see ourselves in him, at least to a point. And then we see what we dread to become.
Hardcore. That’s the word that comes to mind. But not just because Freaks’ Amour refers to a XXX rated show where Normals go to watch mutant men rape their wives and girlfriends (and for a finale the Normals pelt them with rotten fruit). The sex scenes are not particularly graphic, and they don’t need to be. The idea itself is hardcore enough… and that’s just the beginning.
This powerful novel takes place in a world where a small nuclear explosion in Jersey City has created a race of mutants with a wide variety of bizarre attributes: fur, gills, bird claws, misshapen skulls and limbs. Animals, too, mutated, including giant gold fish that produced tiny, hard-shelled eggs…Death Eggs, so named because they seemingly kill anyone who consumes them.
The death only lasts for a few hours, during which time the dead float in the void, approaching but never reaching the lights ahead. This experience becomes so attractive that many people, both Freaks and Normals, become addicted.
In this world, the Fistick twins, Grinner and Flourface, scramble to survive. Grinner and his wife Reeni perform Freaks’ Amour — at least until Reeni declares her intention to quit participating in the violent and degrading spectacle. This throws a monkey wrench into Grinner’s plan to save enough money for the Syntha-Skin operation that will make him, and Renni, appear normal.
Flourface, ashamed of what he sees as his brother’s self-loathing, woos Reeni and deals in Death Eggs. Reeni teeters between the two of them, her husband and her friend, the twins she’s known since childhood, now angry rivals standing on opposite sides of a philosophical dilemma: to seek entry into the world of Normals at any cost, or to stand proudly as Freaks.
This novel is written a stylistically savvy, original voice, a sort of futuristic hardboiled Jersey dialect that’s quirky and engaging. The story perks along at an entertaining clip, and the names of the characters and the chapters give humorous nods to the worlds of graphic novels and pulp fiction.
But make no mistake, despite the exuberantly carnivalesque package, the concerns of this story are literary: how to do we reconcile ambition and love? What does it mean to be outside looking in, and how far can we go in our efforts to reverse that without losing some essential part of our humanity?
In fact, Freaks’ Amour unfolds like a Greek tragedy. We watch the main character being slowly undone by his fatal flaws. We hope he will pull himself out before it’s too late. And like all great tragedies, we see ourselves in him, at least to a point. And then we see what we dread to become.
November 21, 2021
One of my all-time favorites! Post-apocalyptic mutants, social satire, sibling rivalry, and dark, dark, dark. I've thought back to this story many times over the years and wondered why this isn't more well known.
Read
March 8, 2019prosewise, everything i coulda hoped for -- lush, synesthetic, paul-west-y, even. but like.... the whole thing about traveling "rape shows" extremely did not need to be in there. not that i think de haven was seeking to portray it as a cool or good thing, & yeah i get that it's meant to show how the nuclear freaks are otherized and exploited; but there are a couple hundred other ways that could have been conveyed. definitely a curate's egg kinda situation (much like the psychoactive fish eggs everybody's chowing down on throughout the book).
December 21, 2017
Think Tod Browning & William S. Burroughs. Is this proto bizarro fiction? Are the death eggs the inspiration for Dylar in Delillo's White Noise? I don't know. Freaks' Amour is sad, strange and hopeless. Check this excellently written, unique novel out, if you can stomach it.
October 9, 2017
#stopmediocremaleauthorsfromusingrapeasaplotdevice2018
April 23, 2008
Sometimes, when I'm writing these 'reviews', I feel like I shd just give up & embrace my lack of memory of them & have a special column somewhere called "Korsakoff's Amnesiacs Corner" or some-such. Almost all novels for me have become just alternate worlds that I enter into b/c my own life is so lacking in adventure these days. But what about when my life was full of adventure? I read novels galore then too & I don't remember them either. I suppose the point is that I get engrossed in the plots & 'escape' for awhile but I don't retain anything b/c none of it really ties that much into my 'real' life.
Anyway, "Freaks' Amour". Does the title remind you of anything? "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn? Well, lest you think that De Haven was inspired by Dunn, let it be known that Dunn's bk came out in 1989 & De Haven's in 1979. I haven't read "Geek Love" but it's been enthusiastically recommended to me by many a friend. I don't know if the similarities between the titles is where such similarities stops but looking at the Wikipedia plot synopsis for Dunn's bk the similarites seem to run deeper. I'm not saying that Dunn plagiarized De Haven, the sensationalist taste for 'freaks' will always be there in the zeitgeist.
Otherwise, HEY!, I remember nothing about this bk. I've just read the back cover description & skimmed thru it to remind me. It was probably funny, etc; I probably enjoyed it, etc.
Perhaps now is the time to insert a bit of personal philosophizing to explain my indifference to getting into this bk (& many others) in detail. My interest is in living a fantastic 'REAL' life. I've spent my life trying to be here now. & that's not influenced by the bk by the same name (wch I haven't read - but might someday). So why do I read so many damn novels & watch so many fictional movies? I know, I 'know', it's contradictory.
BUT, if you read my more autobiographical bks, like "How to Write a Resumé" & "footnotes", you'll realize that my main interest has been to lead an assertive life that manifests my imagination, to not just stand by & watch my life trickle away - wasted on vicarious living. Even writing these sometimes shallow 'reviews' is an attempt to get a grip on my life by using reading these 'escapist' bks as an excuse to write shit like I'm writing now, to be less passive, more ENGAGED.
I've always tried to create an ACTUAL LIFE that's special - that's why I don't write (much) fiction. I like fiction but I feel like trying to provide texts that're as interesting as fiction but about my own personal 'REAL' experience is more important. As such, I run the risk of being written off as an egomaniac. But my egomania is beside the point, my life-as-example it to the point. I think most people PREFER fiction, though. Maybe even I do - after all, I've read a zillion novels & very few biographies.
But wch ones stick w/ me more? Crowley's "autohagiography"? Or "Freaks' Amour"? Definitely the former. I read "Freaks' Amour" w/in the last 5 yrs & the Crowley bk 20 yrs ago. One cd attribute my more recent lack of memory to age deterioration but I don't think that's actually the case here. Anyway, I'm not saying "Freaks' Amour" is a bad bk, I'm just saying that novels, & living in fantasy worlds, are less important than trying to live yr own life to the fullest. I love bks & bookworms (like myself) usually have pretty active brains, but if you don't APPLY THAT ACTIVE BRAIN you might just be missing out, eh?!
Anyway, "Freaks' Amour". Does the title remind you of anything? "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn? Well, lest you think that De Haven was inspired by Dunn, let it be known that Dunn's bk came out in 1989 & De Haven's in 1979. I haven't read "Geek Love" but it's been enthusiastically recommended to me by many a friend. I don't know if the similarities between the titles is where such similarities stops but looking at the Wikipedia plot synopsis for Dunn's bk the similarites seem to run deeper. I'm not saying that Dunn plagiarized De Haven, the sensationalist taste for 'freaks' will always be there in the zeitgeist.
Otherwise, HEY!, I remember nothing about this bk. I've just read the back cover description & skimmed thru it to remind me. It was probably funny, etc; I probably enjoyed it, etc.
Perhaps now is the time to insert a bit of personal philosophizing to explain my indifference to getting into this bk (& many others) in detail. My interest is in living a fantastic 'REAL' life. I've spent my life trying to be here now. & that's not influenced by the bk by the same name (wch I haven't read - but might someday). So why do I read so many damn novels & watch so many fictional movies? I know, I 'know', it's contradictory.
BUT, if you read my more autobiographical bks, like "How to Write a Resumé" & "footnotes", you'll realize that my main interest has been to lead an assertive life that manifests my imagination, to not just stand by & watch my life trickle away - wasted on vicarious living. Even writing these sometimes shallow 'reviews' is an attempt to get a grip on my life by using reading these 'escapist' bks as an excuse to write shit like I'm writing now, to be less passive, more ENGAGED.
I've always tried to create an ACTUAL LIFE that's special - that's why I don't write (much) fiction. I like fiction but I feel like trying to provide texts that're as interesting as fiction but about my own personal 'REAL' experience is more important. As such, I run the risk of being written off as an egomaniac. But my egomania is beside the point, my life-as-example it to the point. I think most people PREFER fiction, though. Maybe even I do - after all, I've read a zillion novels & very few biographies.
But wch ones stick w/ me more? Crowley's "autohagiography"? Or "Freaks' Amour"? Definitely the former. I read "Freaks' Amour" w/in the last 5 yrs & the Crowley bk 20 yrs ago. One cd attribute my more recent lack of memory to age deterioration but I don't think that's actually the case here. Anyway, I'm not saying "Freaks' Amour" is a bad bk, I'm just saying that novels, & living in fantasy worlds, are less important than trying to live yr own life to the fullest. I love bks & bookworms (like myself) usually have pretty active brains, but if you don't APPLY THAT ACTIVE BRAIN you might just be missing out, eh?!
March 25, 2009
This book is so dark and emotionally affecting that it can be difficult to read. I've never come across a work where the growth of jealousy has been treated so effectively that the reader experiences the protagonist's fear and understands his actions. I won't add more about that because I don't want to spoil where the novel is going. Yes, it's about freaks created by a nuclear accident. They have abilities a little like mutants in the Marvel universe, but almost all of them are useless or downright disabilities. DeHaven creates a unique world in this novel, which has science-fiction elements but is really about family, love, conformity, alienation, and betrayal.
September 22, 2016
Ah, now this one is incomparable. Follows a man who was born with scales and gills as a result of a teeny-tiny nuclear explosion in New Jersey, in his quest to become a normal person. He's pitted against his twin brother, a Freak Pride advocate making a fortune selling the eggs of mutated goldfish. There can't be another novel quite like this. Let me note this is not for the children to read. At all.
June 21, 2010
de haven's post-nuclear mutant-ridden dystopia makes you cringe and laugh consistently throughout each of the stories. i think he deftly handled the social commentary of humans vs ex-human/freak hysteria. it's surreal, but never dream-like. the story is ultimately grounded with the profoundly human qualities of the characters. i really loved this book.
March 23, 2019
I notice that Geek Love has turned into something of a cult classic and wonder why this has not. I assume that is due to this being much more difficult to find. The two books are somewhat related, but Freaks Amour is darker, more twisted -- more like a true cult classic.
There is now a graphic novel version out (2013), but I strongly recommend checking out the original text.
There is now a graphic novel version out (2013), but I strongly recommend checking out the original text.
September 16, 2012
This may be a better book than what I rated it. It's just not my kind of book. I'll take Hitchhiker's Guide over this any day. There is just nobody to identify with, so it was difficult returning to the book day after day.
July 11, 2013
Stay away from the death eggs!
September 14, 2008
What the X men mutants would be like in "real" life. For some reason, I always think of the Jason Alexander show Duckman when I think of this book. Pretty creepy and strange.
February 14, 2011
Well...unlike any novel I've read before. De Haven certainly has an imagination. Great writer but story is too strange to get comfortable as a reader.
May 16, 2011
This reads like a combination of "Sid & Nancy" and Tod Browning's "Freaks".
Grim stuff and certainly not to all tastes, fans of Philip K. Dick and Alan Moore should track it down.
Grim stuff and certainly not to all tastes, fans of Philip K. Dick and Alan Moore should track it down.
September 12, 2012
A very odd novel set in a post-nuclear world where genetic mutations are common. Quite uncomfortable reading too.
March 28, 2013
Well, I read it. More enthusiastic than a dead-read. Met some very interesting characters along the way. Some good reflective senior moments at the end.
October 15, 2013
One of my all time favorites. A must read for anyone who is interested in science fiction, dystopian novels, and just odd stories.
February 9, 2011
a great underground read...philisophical and psychedelic in a punk rock sorta way
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews