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torturedreadersdept's review
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Dementia, and Pregnancy
blackbird300's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
blymanor's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment
mdwsn27's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, and Abandonment
creativerunnings's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
_morgreads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
savvypotions's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
squidknees's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
literally_mint's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Vomit, Dementia, Abandonment, and Alcohol
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: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Biphobia, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment