Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

54 reviews

han__turner's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

cianarae's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I read this entire book in one sitting and could not put it down. It’s beautiful, tragic, splintered, poetic, visceral, unique. I loved the references to movies and books throughout that really gave context to the author’s thoughts and experiences. I want to share this book with everyone I know!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

saintsunshine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Deeply engaging and often emotionally challenging, Carmen Maria Machado has crafted a wholely unique memoir in In the Dream House. Machado places her story of domestic abuse amid historical and cultural contexts that often ignores queer women. Dream House is as informative as it is personal, and I deeply enjoyed it. Though difficult to get through at times, Machado's poignant memoir will likely become a classic in the genre in years to come.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

joyful_patatas's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I had a general idea as to what the memoir was about, but I underestimated just how much abuse, especially towards lesbian relationships get swept under the rug. I really enjoyed reading the author's point of view on the subject and her writing style was also quite unique and not something I was used to when reading a memoir (I mean, having a chose your own adventure part in a memoir was not what I was expecting).

I was quite intrigued at her decision of writing the story of her abusive relationship in the second person, which I had first just thought of it being her trying to put some distance between the author's past self from her current self, but only realized a little later that it could have also been used to have the readers picture themselves in the situation.

It is definitely not a light read, but I would be lying if I said this book didn't make me think. I do recommend this book to fellow queer folks because the subjects tackled in it is problems within our own community and that we need to care enough to fix it, otherwise, no one else will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

heynonnynonnie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

  Hated|Disliked|Liked|Loved|Favorited 

In the Dream House is a bold and experimental memoir unlike anything that I've read before. But like all things new and experimental, there's a strong element of confusion. What was the author's intent? When did the story begin? Why was this chapter here? What was the importance of this metaphor? Of this citation? Sometimes I sat with a chapter and read it over and over again to try to make sense of its meaning. Now that I'm done with the book, I think the author's intent is much more clear. It's not a linear story. It's a collection of short pieces that circle around and around a subject, a thesis, and only sometimes about an abusive relationship. 
The author has a story to tell but has no language for it. She must invent one. The point of the story isn't her abusive relationship, it's that she has no way of framing it. She tries over and over again in each chapter to fit it into various tropes - like holding up a jewel to the light to inspect all its facets. Yet, she finds over and over again that there is no one narrative to tell her story. Every one explains an aspect but ultimately fails to fully contain her story. 
We feel that something wrong has happened to her, but there is no law broken. There's no legal case to refer to. There's no piece of writing that explains what happened. No character archetype to fall back on. No narrative to allude to. And so her goal is to imagine an archive, a house, a structure in which her story can live. A place where her story exists among literary devices, allusions, and metaphors that build legitimacy that the story is seeking. 
I think it's easy to mistake the sometimes second person tense as a weak attempt to create empathy. But it's not an attempt to blur the boundary between author and reader. It's a necessary disconnect in the text. An "I" author and a "you" victim that Machado switches between. A wall between the person she was and the person she is. A classification for her feelings and thought patterns. An Othering to in order to create the many character archetypes the victim falls into. 
The book feels like both the building and the unravelling. It seeks to teach you how to read its text and keeps you away from its core. It's discovering the why of a ghost through the means of a haunted house. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

purjosipuli's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

eoghannnivall's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

mallory10100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

wow this book was amazing. heartbreaking yet quick. i highly recommend. i really liked the unique format. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

this book really doesn’t feel like non fiction, but it’s a chilling true story and i highly recommend it

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I found it. The perfect memoir. The writing throughout this entire book is so beautiful even while describing the most harrowing details that I couldn't believe I was allowed to read it. It is beautiful and horrifying. There is also a lot of important commentary throughout about how women can easily be monsters in lesbian relationships, that abusive relationships are not exclusively a heterosexual phenomenon and the myth of the "lesbian utopia" is just that, myth. In reality, lesbian relationships have the capability to be just as toxic as any other relationship, that we should believe queer women when they come forward with their stories and not dismiss them. Abuse is abuse, be the perpetrator a man, woman, or gender nonconforming. I think this one is gonna stay with me for a really really long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Blood

umerabab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexism, Murder, and Sexual harassment