Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - In the Dream House

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

315 reviews

aus10england's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

jesus fking christ

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lorenag5's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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angievansprang's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow. This book was written in such a unique short-snippet style that I have not seen before in a memoir. Machado is a masterful wordsmith, even when telling a devastating tale. Parts of this book resonated with me a lot, I think I will need to sit with it more before making a truly complete review.

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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Machado's memoir is beautiful and brave, using creative a creative style in order to tell her story of abuse in a relationship with another woman.

Abuse among queer women is often overlooked and this book seeks remedy that with its portrayal of a real relationship and anecdotes about how queer people are expected to be better than cishet people in order to deserve rights, even though in reality we're human and humans are messy. I liked how Machado didn't just stick to her own story and also discussed the history of abuse cases between women and how lesbian rights movements dealt with it, adding to the educational element of the book.

The prose really elevates the story, making it feel more stream of conscious. This helped highlight the emotions one feels when dealing with abuse as Machado shows how she feels rather than tells. For example, Machado never refers to her abuser by name but rather as "the woman in the dream house." This makes her abuser feel inhuman which is a very real feeling victims can have and ties the abuse to a specific place which showcases how PTSD is often tied to physical places. Along with the stream of consciousness, the story is disjointed purposely. Leaping from memories about the relationship to synopses of TV show episodes that work as metaphors on abuse to history about queer women and abuse. This worked well for the vibes but at times made the narrative difficult to follow and understand.

In the Dream House is going on my list of powerful memoirs I'd recommend and by far one of the most creative I've read! I'd especially recommend it for people interested in learning about domestic abuse (especially what it's like between queer women) and the trauma it causes.

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kellybobelly96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

This book is important to read and at times, difficult to read. I appreciated the representation of a queer relationship that is usually hidden. This book reminded me of something I would read on my Women Gender Studies class in college - something that will stick with me but while reading often felt over my head. I didn't expect the memoir to be driven by literary and cultural analysis, but I recognize there was a poetic significance to everything being said. I would recommend to anyone who is willing to think critically and open yourself to a story that is more common than we would like.

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