Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

152 reviews

cheerstochels's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

rafdee13's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

Domestic violence is difficult to write about coherently. Nevermind the complications of lesbian domestic violence In a system that perpetuates the invisibility of both. This book serves as a witness and a warning, and is beautifully written to boot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

lpogo16's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Machado had a lot of courage in talking about her story and a lot of heart in telling the story of other queer women. This book really opened my eyes to a topic I never thought to look at head on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, and Dementia

The vibe of this book is really sad. The energy is very depressing though it does take a hopefully turn at the end.

immorallybookish's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

In the Dream House is a masterpiece. Told in vignettes structured around literature tropes, this memoir follows the rise and fall of a profoundly abusive relationship. Machado is brave, vulnerable, and unflinchingly honest as she exposes the abuse she suffered across a 2 year relationship with another woman. She asks: if we view queer relationships as utopia divorced from patriarchy and hierarchy, are we being homophobic? Are lesbians not humans - complex, hurting, and capable of inflicting extreme harm? If we flatten a group of people into a monolith, we dehumanize them. This book is a necessary addition to the growing work on the incidence of abuse in queer relationships.

I've never read anything quite like this - I loved the vignette narrative structure. The book moved quickly because most sections were short. A couple of the tropes dragged on for me/didn't hit 100%, but I was enthralled and could hardly put it down. A few standouts for me - "Dream House as Deja Vu" (x3), "Dream House as Queer Villainy" (!!!), "Dream House as Bluebeard", "Dream House as the River Lethe", "Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure" ...... ok, I have to stop or I'm going to quote half of this work.

Even more wild: I was in Iowa City as an undergrad during the events of this book. Did I see Carmen and the Woman from the Dream House at a coffee shop, at Obama's speech, in a bookstore? It makes me shiver, the ways people suffer out of view.

Brilliant. Carmen Maria Machado is an absolute force and a genius of prose and innovative structure. I HIGHLY recommend this book, but mind the CW's. Machado doesn't shy away from the gore at the heart of her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Gun violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cow_png's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This was an incredible read and I wish that everyone could read this book! I kept thinking about and wanting to read most times in the day. 
The narrative lens were such an interesting way to write!! and I loved seeing how the way of writing would changed with it!
Definitely look at the content warning before reading if you are a sensitive person (Such as I) 
Amazing book, so happy that I read it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

cheyennedowls's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Lesbophobia

jessmbark's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

readbycarina's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

This feels like it should be required reading for every young queer person. It really expresses the importance of breaking the utopian lense with which we regard queer relationships. It feels especially poignant to me as someone who sees herself as less desirable and has accepted whatever attention she could get in the past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship