Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Nella casa dei tuoi sogni by Carmen Maria Machado

620 reviews

kimayasaijpal's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

 Carmen Maria Machado's "In the Dream House" is a masterpiece in structure. Written completely from the second perspective, this memoir on the breakdown of the author's queer abusive relationship was an immersive experience from the first line to the very last. The queer community often doesn't like talking about abuse because we feel that it would vilify us in the eyes of those who already don't want us to exist. But stories like Machado's are important. The perspective makes it unlike any other memoir I've read. "You follow her in because you don’t know what else to do,”  makes the reader feel like they're experiencing exactly what Machado does, in real time. I will always recommend this book. It is a heavy read, and at times I felt I would not be able to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

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

laurenleannereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Biphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

arj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

errie's review against another edition

challenging dark

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

lil_owl_reads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

beefbourguignon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

hall of fame

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

ems_book_shelf's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

hollyrebecca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Alcohol

drgnhrt968's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship