Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

680 reviews

cait808's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

carmen maria machado is one of my favorite wordsmiths; i've read this masterpiece like 5 times already and each read begets a new revelation. 

you pull this book from the shelf because reading it feels like peeling back a juicy scab. i return it, pride of place, because the familiar itch of my skin knitting back together feels even better. 

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frannieman's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.75


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hydrareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

“Would knowing have made you dumber or smarter?”

I pose the above question all the time when I look at my past relationships and decisions in retrospect. This book doesn’t necessarily answer that either but it does make you think.

An incredible autobiographical account on queerness and intimate partner abuse, it is a very eye opening and heartbreaking read. This book is a valiant effort at putting ink to paper and a formal historical entry to topics that are rarely talked about — queerness and abuse. 

The format of this book is not only unique but incredibly enjoyable. I haven’t read anything like this. It takes you through a disheartening and inspiring adventure through a surprisingly fun writing format. 

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wowaubrie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense

4.75


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wowoella's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

A lovely, difficult, and at times obnoxious memoir. 

I listened to the audiobook, and one thing that I found difficult is the way that Machado cannot help but (literally) speak in breathy metaphors. While I think there is beauty and power in writing this way, I do question using this method to talk about something as serious as abuse. That being said, that’s a preference of mine. 

At the end of the day, it’s worth a read. 

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cheerstochels's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

4.5


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finnthehuman217's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Carmen María Machado is incredible and her writing speaks for itself but her voice in the queer world being a survivor of DV, I am so proud of her getting out but also being brave enough to tell her story. It’s fucked up that this happens at all but the people who are bringing it to light are amazing for making this issue visible. The first time I heard about this book I put it off because it is jarring and I recognize those moments of anger from a childhood of a parent with a short fuse and bipolar. I hope the woman from the dream house got help because she seems very unstable and it makes me want to cry my eyes out thinking about it. 

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krmreads2024's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0


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maritareads's review against another edition

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I felt like I had to finish it rather than wanting to finish it

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slimygf's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5


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