Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

157 reviews

literally_mint's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Biphobia, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Cancer, Abandonment, Vomit, Alcohol, Rape, Dementia, Hate crime, and Fatphobia

melmoony's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

A haunting and terrible tale about domestic abuse. Machado writes about her own experience being in a queer relationship and going through the ups of falling in love and finding who she really is juxtaposed with the downs of being gaslighted and abused. It read like a fever dream, each chapter a disjointed exploration of “the dream house.” I’ve never read a memoir like this and is the only book I’ve read of hers, yet you can tell she is a poet because of the lyrical style of her prose. I cannot say I enjoyed it in a true sense, but I think her writing is lyrical, her voice is unique, and that more discussions about same-sex domestic abuse and across all relationship types should be had.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

gladystobehere's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

So refreshing to see specific experiences of my community written out in such lovely, real, prose. It wasn’t romanticizing or idealizing, and if it did it was frank about it. I love the use of the medium, employing footnotes and other devices with page-turning was really effective, even on an e-reader. It is full of unhappy and emotionally violent anecdotes, and they never last too long but they are there. 
I definitely really recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

matigiuro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

doloroso, solo questo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Bullying

jkamler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

lizlikesfrogs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Rape, Biphobia, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

ratwitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

The loss of the half star is solely because I found it disjointed and slightly hard to follow in places, although I believe that is intentional!
I've never read a memoir before, as a genre it does not interest me but I am so glad I picked this book up. It is beautiful and heart-breaking and brilliant. The formatting is so clever and used to further the story. Machado's tale isn't just told through the words, but how they are laid out. This is a topic that, as she rightfully points out, is not talked about enough and I'm so glad she used her voice to speak about it in this way.
Although I would not say I enjoyed this book, as that seems to be the incorrect word, I cannot recommend this memoir enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

weelowbee's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author does a great job of weaving in historical and pop culture into her reflections of her experiences. It took a moment for me to adjust to how the captures were structured. The only reason this isn’t a 5/5 for me is while the structure worked, I don’t think it was my favorite.

One of my favorite parts was the “choose your own adventure” section. The action of flipping through the pages conveyed what I think the author was going for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Minor: Cancer and Death

alexandranewberg's review against another edition

dark emotional informative fast-paced

5.0

this book was incredible. the short chapters drawing on different writing styles or tropes, etc was such a great way to frame the story. it was heartbreaking and gorgeous and i’m so glad i read it. pieces of media like the film gaslighting that came up a bunch coupled with chapters of queer history about believing queer abuse frames the story in such a way that everything felt tangible. i stoped multiple times to look up songs or articles or movies mentioned and all of it just added to the reading experience. calling the book a piece of canon in the afterword was not an exaggeration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

This book was so easy to consume and so upsetting to digest. Carmen Maria Machado has gorgeous way of defining and then sharing horrifying truths. The sections reflecting on the love of her friends and the people who valued around her was beautiful. I had to take a few breaks while reading this, but I'm glad I did, and I appreciate the shared resources at the end of the book and citations throughout, giving further information and history for queer domestic violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Pregnancy