Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

181 reviews

adaminmelrose's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

maxgdy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

shelleyreadsbooks's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This. Book. Is. Hard.
This book is necessary.
I have been putting off reading this book until I was read. I wasn't read. I don't know that I will ever be ready.
I have never read a book that so captured what being emotionally abused does to your existence in the world. 
This book is necessary.
This. Book. Is. Hard.

I wish this book wasn't necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

This was really good, but heartbreaking. I appreciate that she wrote about her abusive  experience in a queer relationship. We need more stories like that. The writing took me a while to get into, but this was beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

exlibrisadriana's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Beautifully written and narrated. I loved the shortness of the chapters and the queer theorist and artists/ artwork woven throughout the book.  The chapter at a museum and coming across Felix Gonzalez Torres 
Candy 🍬 sculpture was visceral and affective down the her description of the candy going from full to pebble size in her mouth. Gonzales Torres is one of my favorite
 artist’s and the memory attached to that artwork for her alongside Gonzalez Torres messages through that artwork were heavy(pun intended) and made me tear up. 💐💐💐

I’m also so grateful to have read this memoir and all the Machado Shares which deals with a lot of abuse within gay relationships. I especially like the chapter towards the end that gives more context to domestic violence and domestic abuse within LGBTQIA+ relationships and how overlooked the issueof DV is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting

mary_wyrd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

In the Dream House you are a prisoner to your own heart; trapped, wanting to leave. But you can't, because the house is part of you now, a house that haunts. A dream that became a nightmare. This memoir is part exorcism part rebellion and a full-throated yell against the tyranny of abuse. Machado's full range of creativity is used in excising this chapter of her life and analysing its impact. The format is inventive. Each section is told in a different genre style or trope. Each section is also short, like a glimpse through the windows of the Dream House, seeing a tense, intense relationship from various angles, before the curtains are drawn. Many chapters are told in second person present tense, placing you in the author's position, living through that relationship.  You are both victim and witness. You are Machado. You are all the women in this position who couldn't get out until they did - fatally or finally free. This is a personal study of abuse with reflections on how society has historically treated both lesbians in love and lesbians in abusive situations; with silence, disgust and distrust.  In the Dream House as personal journey is certain to join the canon of lesbian non-fiction exploring love and loathing within a lesbian context.  In the Dream House as memoir already plays a part in unravelling the lie that women can't abuse other women. They can, and those abused need to be believed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

dcepeda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

rusina's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Fire/Fire injury

gardner98's review against another edition

informative inspiring

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

adearajean's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

There were parts that were really good and parts that I felt less connected to. It was well written and poetic at times. I wished she had provided more details in some chapters. Pretty tense at times. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Grief