Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Nella casa dei tuoi sogni

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Nella casa dei tuoi sogni by Carmen Maria Machado

1097 reviews

cheyennedowls's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

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lil_owl_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

This has the potential to be one of, if not the, best book of my 2024 reading. I flew through In The Dream House; I don't think I've ever read a memoir that could so adequately be called a page-turner. What drove me to keep reading was not what might happen next, but how Machado might portray it. It truly felt not just that I had been invited into her world, but that I had been invited into her surreal dreams. Machado draws the reader into her retelling of a queer abusive relationship so beautifully that if you didn't know where the story was headed, you might be just as tempted by the Dream House as Machado was.
Not only does Machado have a grasp on writing that I have seen rivaled by only a few other authors, she has a grasp on history and the place her story will occupy within the canon of literature. She is self-aware; she references and cross-references and builds up nearly a library of works discussed just within this ~200 page book.
If you need your heart broken, read this. If you need your heart mended, read this.

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beefbourguignon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

hall of fame

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ems_book_shelf's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

5.0

This book was a masterpiece. From the start, it was hard to put down. The writing is so lyrical and the way the author writes metaphors for things that can’t be put into explicit words was amazing. There were many parts of this book that dug up past my traumas, put things into words that I have been struggling to myself, and made me reflect on my own thoughts and feelings and remembrances.

Recommending this book a million times over

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mapauacero's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.75

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hollyrebecca's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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drgnhrt968's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

4.5

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applesodaperson's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Wow yeah this book is a masterpiece. First off, I loved the format! I liked the one page chapters, and how it switched topics a lot. I like that some of the chapters talked about where she was when she was writing that part. It felt so unique and really grounded me in her life. Another thing I liked was the perspective. Everything it written using "you", which literally places the reader in the author's place, and makes them feel what she was feeling. And holy cow the "choose your own adventure" part was genius. And the pages that call the reader out for not following the instructions were like a gut punch. Also the choose your own adventure format is something that I have never seen in a book written for adults. And of course the most hard hitting and important part of this book is the awareness it brings to domestic abuse within LGBTQ+ relationships. Like she talked about in the book, it is a topic that is either underrepresented or misrepresented in media. But despite that, it is still important to bring attention to.
Also a random thought I had is that it is

hilarious that Carmen ended up marrying the woman in the dream house's ex-girlfriend.

Overall, the descriptions of abuse in this book were just very impactful and hard to read, due to how bad it makes you feel for Carmen. I think this is an amazing book, and Machado is an incredible author.
Read a borrowed copy from a friend.

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frozenheartv's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

5 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Please note that I rate this book based on the literary side of the book not the author’s story.

“Putting language to something for which you have no language is no easy feat.” – Carmen Maria Machado

“The trouble with letting other people see you at your worst isn’t that they’ll remember; it’s that you’ll remember.” – Carmen Maria Machado

“Queer folks fail each other too.” – Carmen Maria Machado

“…you can be hurt by people who look just like you. Not only can it happen, it probably will, because the world is full of hurt people who hurt people.” – Carmen Maria Machado

🧠 My thoughts
If I want to describe this book in 1 word it’s definitely “Wow”. Domestic abuse has been a hot topic that many people look into and write about but this book stands out due to its creative and fantastic writing style. The prose was beautiful, poetic, and lyrical which made me feel like I was reading a fictional book but “unfortunately”, the story was real.

First of all, I have to comment on the incredible writing style. I felt that the way the author used the third-person narration was so smart. It made me feel like she might have overcome the trauma and now she was telling us her own story, detached (not completely) from it to give us an objective view of the Dream House. The chapters were bite-sized and that made the story fragmented like memories, like her heart, clear but also unclear, damaged but also already mended.

By inserting some educational chapters, I felt that I had a better understanding of not only her life story but also the issues related to the LGBTQAI+ community. The author raised a very valid point that domestic abuse (of queer or not queer) is very ambiguous. How much psychological torment a person has to suffer to be considered as abuse, for everyone to realize it and help them?

The only drawback I saw was that jumping from the informative chapters to other ones too abruptly made it sometimes just a bit hard to follow.

👍 What I like

Creative writing style and gripping narration
Educational and informative
Powerful and memorable

👎 What I don't like

Sometimes the informative chapters jump too abruptly back and forth to the author’s own story ones makes it a bit hard to follow.

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laur_astor's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

This is a masterclass in crafting an entirely original memoir. Carmen's writing is raw and heartbreaking and sucks you into the feelings she feels so deeply. Also, her audiobook narration is so poetic and mesmerizing.

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