Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado

33 reviews

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

In the Dream House is a masterpiece. Told in vignettes structured around literature tropes, this memoir follows the rise and fall of a profoundly abusive relationship. Machado is brave, vulnerable, and unflinchingly honest as she exposes the abuse she suffered across a 2 year relationship with another woman. She asks: if we view queer relationships as utopia divorced from patriarchy and hierarchy, are we being homophobic? Are lesbians not humans - complex, hurting, and capable of inflicting extreme harm? If we flatten a group of people into a monolith, we dehumanize them. This book is a necessary addition to the growing work on the incidence of abuse in queer relationships.

I've never read anything quite like this - I loved the vignette narrative structure. The book moved quickly because most sections were short. A couple of the tropes dragged on for me/didn't hit 100%, but I was enthralled and could hardly put it down. A few standouts for me - "Dream House as Deja Vu" (x3), "Dream House as Queer Villainy" (!!!), "Dream House as Bluebeard", "Dream House as the River Lethe", "Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure" ...... ok, I have to stop or I'm going to quote half of this work.

Even more wild: I was in Iowa City as an undergrad during the events of this book. Did I see Carmen and the Woman from the Dream House at a coffee shop, at Obama's speech, in a bookstore? It makes me shiver, the ways people suffer out of view.

Brilliant. Carmen Maria Machado is an absolute force and a genius of prose and innovative structure. I HIGHLY recommend this book, but mind the CW's. Machado doesn't shy away from the gore at the heart of her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Violence, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Biphobia, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gun violence

iwishihadmoretimetoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Dementia and Drug abuse

bokryp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

Ooph! Heavy and thoughtful and challenging. Amazing writer. Incredibly unique and intriguing writing structure. I was afraid it would be a slog to get through a new theme every couple pages, but it's one arc of a story told through dozens of facets and lenses. Remarkably cohesive, the structure gave a much more full and nuanced representation than a typical memoir structure would have. It's like how I tell stories. A little scattered and sometimes tangential, but it represents the message all the same. Ended up being engrossed by the serial style narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Homophobia

blymanor's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Body shaming, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and Lesbophobia

dexlud'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

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Biphobia, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Grief, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Torture

fi_nikki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

signeskov's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexism

elyssajoh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

maess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit