The powerful symbol of the carnival freak is put to some new uses in an original novel. Instead of presenting the freaks as suffering from exploitation, they form a fairly shocking value system of their own that holds our surrounding cultural values in contempt. It’s completely believable, because the characters depend on their freakishness for…

A nice disturbing twist to the standard student/teacher affair story. Judi Dench is great as usual. The only downside is that I didn’t find the student character entirely believable. Otherwise it’s done well. That’s about all I can say without spoiling it.