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elwirax's review against another edition
3.0
I speak into the silence. I toss the stone of my story into a vast crevice; measure the emptiness by its small sound.
As this is a memoir my rating is not based on Machado's experience but rather the way it was structured and written as a whole. Please do not take this as direct criticism of how the author has chosen to cope and portray her trauma (despite how contradictory that sounds).
I don't really have any profound criticism of In the Dream House just minor personal dislikes. Something I couldn't really click with was the writing style particularly when it switched between first person and second person. I understand that this was used as a way to put the reader in the author's shoes and while I appreciate that, I also didn't feel connected due to the lack of internal monologues and in depth look into emotions. Another thing were the constant footnotes and references to media. There were clear parallels in say, Stranger by the Lake and Gaslight but I couldn't always connect them with the context of the author's experiences (although, maybe that was just me not looking deep enough into their significance). It's definitely an interesting addition to a memoir but sometimes the book didn't know whether it wanted to me a memoir or a critical analysis/ dissertation on how same sex relationships and violence have been portrayed in media. This resulted in choppy writing that ranged from really formal to rather simple and took away from the flow of the text. I think that while the references added a bit of nuance to the text and supported the author's experience, they also took away from it through the pages and pages of description that sometimes felt like filler. As a side note, what was that mouse stomping scene about and the narcissism after finding out friend's roommate died in a fire?! A bit weird to me.
Nevertheless, writing about her experience with an abusive, queer relationship must not have been easy. Hats of to Machado for writing about a topic that deserves more recognition than it recieves in the media. I also really liked the choose your own adventure part, though that is obviously not as important as the subject matter.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Biphobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment
lizlikesfrogs's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Rape, Biphobia, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
catatlanta's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Drug use, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence
mothie_girlie's review against another edition
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness
aproudmc13's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Biphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Cursing, Fatphobia, Racism, Classism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Rape, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Drug use
lesbianlis's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Toxic relationship
rieviolet's review against another edition
3.5
I did not get along with the narrative structure, I found the rapid-fire succession of chapters (supposed to show different genres and narrative styles) too much disjointed and confusing. The writing style is a bit too much experimental for me.
I liked much more the chapters that were "essay-like", exploring queer history and theory. However, I think that this mixing of informative chapters together with more literary and elaborately written ones was a bit jarring, it felt like two different books mashed up.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Gun violence, Medical content, Drug abuse, Torture, Cursing, Car accident, Biphobia, Sexual assault, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Bullying, Transphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Dementia
pinkpotayto's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Grief, and Lesbophobia
baguettegay's review against another edition
5.0
This memoir cuts you open. No other way to describe it or encapsulate what it will make you feel.
Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
brainrot_197's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness