Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

1128 reviews

katofalltrades's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

WOW. Read this book on a whim, based on the description in Libby and the availability of the audiobook. It felt so important and profound, and sucked me right it. I can’t believe that it was only 5 hours long, it felt like so much more, but those hours also flew by.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

mamareadstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

I would give Carla six stars for this book if I could. Ten? I listened to her read her story on hoopla, but I'm going to have to buy a physical copy so I can go back and underline and cry all over the pages. There were moments so vivid I had flashbacks to my own experience 15+ years ago, so similar, in too many ways to count. This wasn't some afterschool special. This was falling in love and out of love and feeling powerless and somehow, eventually, slowly, finding your power again, trusting yourself again, loving yourself, for once. I don't know that I could have read this book 15 years ago, but I wish that I had been able to read it before... Or maybe I wish that I had been able to reach across state lines back then, and find her, and that we could have shared our stories and gotten each other out sooner. Or maybe not. Maybe we couldn't get out until we could, until we did. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

hannahbanana98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

nataliegoodman13's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Go read it. An all-time favorite that I will be revisiting again and again and again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

leontyna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

This book is amazing. The structure is ingenious and the writing is so beautiful. I really loved the mixture of personal stories and ponderings about queer history.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Drug use

onamoonbeam's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

oh! so that's why this author's famous! moment. read a few excerpts of this for a creative writing class and loved them months ago, finally got around to reading the whole thing. the mastery machado has over language is. absurd. somehow lots of colloquial language to illustrate swathes of emotion and history that will be rattling around in my mind for who knows how long. she also likes the word eponymous, which i will now actually remember the definition of. 
notable bits

• as a trope lover, the fact the memoir is formatted like this at all is already fantastic, not to mention. literally everything else
• the three deja vu chapters are marked in my book, and i flipped between them, reading their corresponding sentences in order in awe of oh. everything in this book is put together with intention, and this is just a small piece of it. 
• the choose your own adventure part with the 
  (multiple!!) pages that say smth like 'you should not be on this page, there was no way to get to it with the choices provided. you wanted to get out/you can't get out, this already happened/were you looking for a way out' ARE SO GOOD i love when authors use their mediums to the fullest because in what other format could that exist? it reminded me of some pieces of interactive fiction, where choice being given and then taken away, or pointing out the illusion of choice, is more impactful than starting out with no choice to begin with. 
•  
  the use of footnotes in reference to folklore and foreshadowing is *chef's kiss* both opposite and adjacent to the princess bride to me. some of them, esp the one of 'mother killing her child' i gasped at
•  
  pointing out that the language we use to describe abuse is so trite that horrible experiences seem banal, then pointing out a specific experience
•  
  magical realism almost? of her experiences after the breakup, shrinking and drowning in tears and finding solace in animals
•  
  "We deserve to have our wrongdoing represented as much as our heroism, because when we refuse wrongdoing as a possibility for a group of people, we refuse their humanity" AAAGH
•  
  explicit separation of "you" and "i" in one chapter that continues for the rest of the book, works to 1. separate her experiences at the time of the relationship and at other points in her life 2. a marker of her growth 3. everything becomes deeply personal to the reader. you are running/dreaming/hiding. do you understand, now? 
•  
  "Part of the problem was, as a weird fat girl, you felt lucky." the elementary school me is pounding the floor of my heart, ie. when I read that I gripped the book a little tighter
• HOUSE AND SPACE METAPHORS

 
something about this is peak english major to me, and i mean that as a compliment. guess i gotta go read her body and other parties now

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

milenagallo's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

kc_gilbert's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

fayemomodu's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely love this book. As someone who attending college at the University of Iowa I loved reading this as it takes place in Iowa City at the college. The book almost reads as poetry and is very beautiful written.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

anaheeta's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Death, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Fatphobia