Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

58 reviews

elwirax's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.0

I speak into the silence. I toss the stone of my story into a vast crevice; measure the emptiness by its small sound.

 

As this is a memoir my rating is not based on Machado's experience but rather the way it was structured and written as a whole. Please do not take this as direct criticism of how the author has chosen to cope and portray her trauma (despite how contradictory that sounds).

I don't really have any profound criticism of In the Dream House just minor personal dislikes. Something I couldn't really click with was the writing style particularly when it switched between first person and second person. I understand that this was used as a way to put the reader in the author's shoes and while I appreciate that, I also didn't feel connected due to the lack of internal monologues and in depth look into emotions. Another thing were the constant footnotes and references to media. There were clear parallels in say, Stranger by the Lake and Gaslight but I couldn't always connect them with the context of the author's experiences (although, maybe that was just me not looking deep enough into their significance). It's definitely an interesting addition to a memoir but sometimes the book didn't know whether it wanted to me a memoir or a critical analysis/ dissertation on how same sex relationships and violence have been portrayed in media. This resulted in choppy writing that ranged from really formal to rather simple and took away from the flow of the text. I think that while the references added a bit of nuance to the text and supported the author's experience, they also took away from it through the pages and pages of description that sometimes felt like filler. As a side note,  what was that mouse stomping scene about and the narcissism after finding out friend's roommate died in a fire?! A bit weird to me. 

Nevertheless, writing about her experience with an abusive, queer relationship must not have been easy. Hats of to Machado for writing about a topic that deserves more recognition than it recieves in the media. I also really liked the choose your own adventure part, though that is obviously not as important as the subject matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Biphobia, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

monsterofidaho's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir In the Dream House is everything you want to believe in and none of it at the same time. Her writing unfolds this inimitably surreal unreality that can be felt just below skin level; disorienting, beautiful, and impossible to forget. Imagine the Dream House as a true story. Imagine the Dream House as a Gothic horror novel. In some ways, Machado’s story is so specific to her own experiences but, at the same time, the Dream House’s doors are open to anyone who has experienced abuse, queerphobia, or religious trauma.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fatphobia

aproudmc13's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

3.5

This book deals with an extremely important topic that needs to be voiced and discussed. That said, as a piece of work itself, I liked it so-so. 

I did not get along with the narrative structure, I found the rapid-fire succession of chapters (supposed to show different genres and narrative styles) too much disjointed and confusing. The writing style is a bit too much experimental for me.

I liked much more the chapters that were "essay-like", exploring queer history and theory. However, I think that this mixing of informative chapters together with more literary and elaborately written ones was a bit jarring, it felt like two different books mashed up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia

nick13's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

5.0

I have to say that this story was not really for me but I did like how this one showed that not all abusive relationships are straight and that everybody is a human. 
Other than that, I liked the random snippets of other works in history and things as it really helped convey what the author was feeling in the moment or delivered her thoughts very well. 
Overall, I quite enjoyed this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual assault

lostpaperbacks's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

in the dream house is a singular memoir, one w/ a unique - even ingenious - structure that masterfully distills the volatile and oscillating emotions, particularly tense fear, of the abused. 

machado recounts and examines her personal experience of an abusive relationship through the lens of various artistic genres, objects, things, ideas, lending each chapter an eerie, tense, sometimes detached feeling. the aforementioned is also framed against the larger historical backdrop of overlooked and non-mainstream subject of abuse in queer and lesbian relationships, and i learned a lot from the existing canon that's included in the book.

overall, a distinctive memoir on an oft under-discussed experience that's also able to critically discuss larger historical and social contexts.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Vomit

plethora's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

I don't read things quickly, and I read this in a day. The formatting makes each page or so its own self-contained reflection, so it was perfect for my distractable brain to pick up and put down between texts (I know, I'm the worst). As a 90's nerd kid every reference in this felt relatable to me. And I so applaud the author for choosing to convey her truth the way she did.

When I got to page 162 I audibly squealed with glee at the choice.

This books is as much an anthology that points and screams at the undercurrent of Queer history that has been suppressed for centuries by cishet institutions, as it is a personal memoir. Carmen Maria Machado has made a point to champion her community while holding it accountable to the reality its members face.  

The author's play and use with genre, theme, format made following this story that much more invigorating, while imbuing the reader's journey with the same fragmented, recursive, reflective search for clarity we all feel in the

aftermath of a toxic and abusive relationship. Reading this felt like sitting with a friend trying to make sense of their last relationship over a bottle of wine. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Sexual assault

Ugh, men.