Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

99 reviews

lizard800's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.75

I did not like her style of reading. I think I would have liked the book more if I had just read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol

litliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Cursing, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual content, Body horror, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Dementia, Pregnancy, Racism, and Gun violence

toyin_'s review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

It can be tricky for a survivor to read another survivor's experience, laid out like this, and not feel in some sense that it is too much, or too similar. Dream house as choose your adventure is my favourite section of the book, it feels like a closed loop and it is confrontational. When you try to stop the abuse, there's an aside between reader and author that is challenging, the idea you think you can when you can't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

creativerunnings's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Toxic relationship

breadbummer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

LOTS of literary/cultural references that flew way over my head, mainly in terms of "chapter" titles and, maybe it's because of the ADHD troubles when listening to an audiobook without text, but there were some passages that I was confused about how they related to the story. Otherwise, I'm speechless; horrifying events that were beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Grief, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Biphobia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Blood

michaelanormand's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

kheinekamp's review

dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Violence

charliewarliee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

In The Dream House is a beautiful memoir by Carmen Maria Machado. The writing style is beautifully poetic and the vocabulary that Machado uses is absolutely stunning. I will say that this is easily read in mass chunks, and I ended up taking a break from this book because the vocab was just a lot. It’s incredibly complex and at times hard to understand. Overall, a very good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Sexism, Suicide, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal death and Vomit

buttercat42's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

Somewhat difficult to get into at first, and then impossible to put down. I love the fragmented format and found it very readable. The writing was deliciously intelligent. An important queer story I didn’t know I needed. One quibble— of course I understand the importance of the more educational passsges at the end, but they felt poorly incorporated with the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Homophobia

abmochapman's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

In the Dream House might be one of those books to which I return again and again. Although Carmen Maria Machado’s writing is at times difficult and frustrating or simply gauche, it is also at times full of beauty and release. And what’s more is how much her words speak to experiences resemble my own despite the world of difference between them. 

Abuse in queer relationships is unique and deserving of the time and attention she pays to it in this book, and yet, the pain I experienced in abusive heterosexual relationships seems almost the same. I do not know the specific pain of being betrayed by a same-sex partner, someone who is so similar to me, but I do know what it’s like to doubt my own experiences and even wish there had been physical scars to which I could point as evidence. I understand that sick desire to be hurt enough to be heard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Infidelity