The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs

Narrated by Lisa Datz. OMG, this novel is a psychological horror! As you begin the story you realize that something is off-kilter with Ivy and her mother, and definitely the Rumbaugh twins at the pharmacy. But you can't quite grasp what. Eventually the story builds with one horror after another until the shocking climax of Ivy succumbing to the Rumbaugh love curse. Lisa Datz's excellent interpretation makes this story even scarier: she reads in a matter-of-fact, everyday tone that belies the twisted aspects of the situation. (Some readers have tagged this book as "incest" but the graphic scenes don't involve that.) Definitely not for everyone but a worthy read if you have the stomach for it.

What is The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs? As a book, it's sort of what would happen if an old VC Andrews plot fell into the hands of a good writer and a better editor, and the 300 pages of gratuitous sex were removed. As a concept, the Love Curse is an excessive, obsessive mother-love, an Oedipal complex passed down through the generations. It's a dark, gothic story, involving taxidermy, identical twin brothers, their mother (from whom they can't bear to be parted), a young girl, and her mother. Ivy is drawn to the Rumbaugh twins; her mom wants her to leave their small town and break away from their influence. I hesitate to go into more details for fear of ruining the many, somewhat disturbing plot points.

It's certainly an original show more story, and well presented. It's fairly short (under 200 pages), which feels about right for this story--any longer and it would have felt plodding and tedious. It's well-written and it's weird. I'm not sure I'd call it horror, exactly, despite what the Cataloging-in-Publication data says, but I don't really know what genre I'd put it in. I guess "horror" is the closest fit, until "gothic story" catches on as a genre label. show less

“A gothic tale of the love of one’s mother beyond all reason, as told by Ivy Spirco.”

Ivy and her mother live in a hotel across the street from the Rumbaugh Pharmacy. The Rumbaugh twins run the pharmacy and Ivy has known them all her life. But she makes a discovery that reveals an unusual side to the brothers. The deep feelings they show for their mother and that Ivy can rationalize makes sense to her, as she also has a great love for her mother.

The Rumbaugh twins are identical to the point it is hard to tell who is Abner and who is Adolph. Raised by their mother in a strict religious environment, they have never married. Ivy’s mother worked for the twins and their mother at the pharmacy before Ivy was born, hence the long show more friendship. The twins have a hobby of taxidermy, which they had learned from their father. They create dioramas using the stuffed figures to populate the scenes. They have taken many awards for their work. This is something Ivy takes up and also excels at.

On Ivy’s 16th birthday, her mother reveals something about Ivy’s heritage that is totally unexpected and is life changing. Also why there is a possibility she may have inherited the “Rumbaugh curse.”

A book more for the 12 and up age group. The writing is good and descriptive but does lag in spots. Otherwise it is an very interesting read of the unusual! show less

Gantos wins the prize this year for the weirdest book published and I wonder if it says more about me that I love it so much! But what’s not to love about a book in which twins practice the art of taxidermy on their mother, making certain that each body part is prepared separately so that she will fit in suitcases when they want to take her on trips with them? What’s not to love when you are a teen girl, Ivy, and you discover that this obsessive love, this curse, has your name on it too? Suddenly you are viewing your own mother with a different set of eyes! Gantos has a book to pair with Frankenstein or with the works of Poe. Readers will either love it or hate it; not much room in the middle for this one.

And in this Library Thing show more Forum I can share the fact that this book was nominated for BBYA during the time my mother-in-law was in Hospice care at the end of her wonderful life. Our family divided up the watch during this time so that Dorothy would not be alone. My time with Dorothy was both wonderful and terrifying. My first day, I sat there somewhat bewildered. I watched, expecting Dorothy to pass away right before my eyes. What Dorothy did for my four hour shift is to sleep. After two days of simply sitting (and having a ton of books to read for BBYA), I brought the first un-read BBYA book from the top of my pile. And as most of you have guessed (or should have guessed) the first book I brought in to read was LOVE CURSE. Let me just say that when your mother-in-law (who is also one of your closest friends) is dying, I do NOT recommend this book for Hospice reading! show less

I really loved this book. The prose was absolutely wonderful, maybe even a little highbrow for a kids book. The story was gothic and gruesome and fascinating and I just couldn't tear myself away from it. Really, the way Gantos used his words in this book was stunning. Every sentence is so elegantly constructed and Ivy's ruminations are intelligent and interesting. I can't think of anything more specific to say - I just loved it!

A young woman named Ivy, who made a shocking discovery in her small western Pennsylvania town when she was seven years old and learned a surprising secret nine years later, questions whether she has inherited the Rumbaugh curse of having excessive love for one's mother. On an unseasonably warm Easter Sunday, a young girl named Ivy discovers a chilling secret in the basement of the Rumbaugh pharmacy across the street from the hotel where she lives with her mother. The discovery reveals a disturbing side to the eccentric lives of family friends Abner and Adolph Rumbaugh, known throughout their small western Pennsylvania town simply as the Twins. It seems that Ab and Dolph have been compelled by a powerful mutual love for their deceased show more mother to do something extraordinary, something that in its own twisted way bridges the gap between the living and the dead. Immediately, Ivy's discovery provokes the revelation of a Rumbaugh family curse, a curse that, as Ivy will learn over the coming years, holds a strange power over herself and her own mother. In his third book for young adults, Jack Gantos has scripted a completely original drama. With gothic flavor and black humor, he depicts a group of people bound together by love, compulsion - and a passion for taxidermy. show less

This is one weird book; but I really liked it! A young girl, Ivy, finds a preserved dead body in the basement of the pharmacy across the street from her hotel. The body is that of the mother of a set of very odd/unique twins named Ab and Dolph. Ivy grows older and finds that her own interests in taxidermy are closely tied to those of the twins.

Very unique read; I enjoyed the gothic feel to this one.