Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Das Archiv der Träume

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Das Archiv der Träume by Carmen Maria Machado

83 reviews

emilyharmonica's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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maddyp's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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atmreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I know I already listed the trigger warnings above, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to take those seriously. This book is dark, intense, emotional, and deals A LOT with trauma and traumatizing events. I cannot in good conscious recommend this book without telling all of you to keep in mind these trigger warnings and do what is mentally healthy for you.

I just need to say that I LOVED this book. It is incredibly well written, creatively told, and exquisitely presented. This novel is told through a series of vignettes, each one focusing on a different event told through the lense of a different trope. And my god it was such an immersive way to tell the story! Simply reading the header of “Dream House as ____” immediately had me intrigued.

Next, the themes. I know themes are often discussed in the context of works of fiction, but this novel had such great themes despite being someone’s real life. The focus on how abuse within LGBTQ+ relationships is often dismissed because “how could a woman abuse another woman??” I think that highlighting that abuse is not homogeneous and can happen in any relationship of any kind is a really important message to give. And to hear the perspective of someone caught in an abusive relationship who felt trapped with no way out is incredibly important, because I think many people, whether consciously or not, have this idea that if you’re in a bad situation you should just leave. It’s not that simple but to hear and see someone’s real, lived in experience is SO important.

Lastly, the lasting impact. This is a book that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. This book had me crying at 1 am and 1 pm, it had me thinking deeply about what Machado was saying. This is a book I’ll take with me through life, one that I’ll look back to as a distinct point in time. It is truly a work of art.

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saintsunshine's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Deeply engaging and often emotionally challenging, Carmen Maria Machado has crafted a wholely unique memoir in In the Dream House. Machado places her story of domestic abuse amid historical and cultural contexts that often ignores queer women. Dream House is as informative as it is personal, and I deeply enjoyed it. Though difficult to get through at times, Machado's poignant memoir will likely become a classic in the genre in years to come.

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joyful_patatas's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I had a general idea as to what the memoir was about, but I underestimated just how much abuse, especially towards lesbian relationships get swept under the rug. I really enjoyed reading the author's point of view on the subject and her writing style was also quite unique and not something I was used to when reading a memoir (I mean, having a chose your own adventure part in a memoir was not what I was expecting).

I was quite intrigued at her decision of writing the story of her abusive relationship in the second person, which I had first just thought of it being her trying to put some distance between the author's past self from her current self, but only realized a little later that it could have also been used to have the readers picture themselves in the situation.

It is definitely not a light read, but I would be lying if I said this book didn't make me think. I do recommend this book to fellow queer folks because the subjects tackled in it is problems within our own community and that we need to care enough to fix it, otherwise, no one else will.

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