Lobster Boy

Lobster Boy is an original novel concerning twin brothers in the circus sideshow. The brothers, Simon and Felix, are born with ectrodactyly (also known as "lobster-claw syndrome") a bone fusion disorder. Though Felix is comfortable with his appearance, Simon is frustrated by the social limitations imposed upon people whose bodies deviate from the norm. The novel examines how individuals come to be defined as freaks through the character of Crocodile Cal, a normal boy whose father covered him with scale-shaped burns. Cal identifies the trauma of his burns with being a freak. While performing as the Crocodile Man, Cal becomes erotically fixated with Simon and abducts him. Simon escapes, but feels shamed because of his status as victim. Cal's history of abuse and his subsequent torture of Simon probe the ways in which traumatic events alienate the survivor from himself in the same way being a freak alienates him from the normal world. Simon wonders if his being born a freak is just as traumatic as Cal's being made into a freak. Felix avoids this question by plotting revenge against Cal after Cal's parole.