Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

1134 reviews

leontyna's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

This book is amazing. The structure is ingenious and the writing is so beautiful. I really loved the mixture of personal stories and ponderings about queer history.
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onamoonbeam's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

oh! so that's why this author's famous! moment. read a few excerpts of this for a creative writing class and loved them months ago, finally got around to reading the whole thing. the mastery machado has over language is. absurd. somehow lots of colloquial language to illustrate swathes of emotion and history that will be rattling around in my mind for who knows how long. she also likes the word eponymous, which i will now actually remember the definition of. 
notable bits
  • as a trope lover, the fact the memoir is formatted like this at all is already fantastic, not to mention. literally everything else
  • the three deja vu chapters are marked in my book, and i flipped between them, reading their corresponding sentences in order in awe of oh. everything in this book is put together with intention, and this is just a small piece of it. 
  • the choose your own adventure part with the 
    (multiple!!) pages that say smth like 'you should not be on this page, there was no way to get to it with the choices provided. you wanted to get out/you can't get out, this already happened/were you looking for a way out' ARE SO GOOD i love when authors use their mediums to the fullest because in what other format could that exist? it reminded me of some pieces of interactive fiction, where choice being given and then taken away, or pointing out the illusion of choice, is more impactful than starting out with no choice to begin with. 
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    the use of footnotes in reference to folklore and foreshadowing is *chef's kiss* both opposite and adjacent to the princess bride to me. some of them, esp the one of 'mother killing her child' i gasped at
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    pointing out that the language we use to describe abuse is so trite that horrible experiences seem banal, then pointing out a specific experience
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    magical realism almost? of her experiences after the breakup, shrinking and drowning in tears and finding solace in animals
  •  
    "We deserve to have our wrongdoing represented as much as our heroism, because when we refuse wrongdoing as a possibility for a group of people, we refuse their humanity" AAAGH
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    explicit separation of "you" and "i" in one chapter that continues for the rest of the book, works to 1. separate her experiences at the time of the relationship and at other points in her life 2. a marker of her growth 3. everything becomes deeply personal to the reader. you are running/dreaming/hiding. do you understand, now? 
  •  
    "Part of the problem was, as a weird fat girl, you felt lucky." the elementary school me is pounding the floor of my heart, ie. when I read that I gripped the book a little tighter
  • HOUSE AND SPACE METAPHORS
 
something about this is peak english major to me, and i mean that as a compliment. guess i gotta go read her body and other parties now
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milenagallo's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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kc_gilbert's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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fayemomodu's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely love this book. As someone who attending college at the University of Iowa I loved reading this as it takes place in Iowa City at the college. The book almost reads as poetry and is very beautiful written.
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anaheeta's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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mandaleigh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

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kaimju's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

„In the pit of it, you fantasize about dying. Tripping on a sidewalk and stumbling into the path of an oncoming car… Anything to make it stop. You have forgotten that leaving is an option" </3
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luv4journey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Beautiful writing, some parts personally hit me hard. Amazing over all, definitely worth a read.
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rachaelcandoit's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This story is heartbreaking and beautiful. I'm in love with the way this book is structured and written. There were many times I stopped and was absolutely struck by it, genuinely. 

This memoir is also so incredibly important. As a queer person, I'm thankful that work like this exists and hope it can bring awareness to others.
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