Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

234 reviews

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

swolphe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

One of the most incredible pieces of queer writing I have read. Wlw relationships are often either sexualized or idolized, with no space between. Carmen shares her struggle to fit in as both a queer and a cuban-american woman, and how this -- alongside the expectations of 'soft' wlw relationships, both within and without the queer community -- lead to finding herself trapped in an abusive relationship. Within this relationship Carmen expresses love, lust, pain, fear, happiness, and melancholy. She creates a space that's safe for wlw women to examine their own relationship dynamics, and to recognize how social programming can create dangerous assumptions for every community.  Please read this book, it's important. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

ninaszewczyk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia and Alcohol

margotcw's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

goldenjunegem's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

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

leefox's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Fatphobia

kowtherq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Incredible, incredible, incredible. Really heartbreaking, but poignant. Loved everything about this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault

katiedykema's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

Enlightening and devastating. Beautifully written but sometimes too caught up in metaphor that it was hard to understand, though that is probably my own issue and not the author’s. I was particularly impressed by the chapter The Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure - I read this book on Kindle and this chapter was a unique and fascinating reading experience. 

This book had a lot of impactful lines, and I think my favorite is “How many times had you said, ‘If I just looked a little different, I’d be drowning in love’? Now you got to drown without needing to change a single cell. Lucky you.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault

moss_martii's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

It was very personal to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting