A review by shafnut
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Trigger warning, if reading about abuse triggers you, do not read this book or this review.

This is one of the rare memoirs that I've read- honestly not sure if I'm a memoir reader. I feel that this was much easier for me because the format of this book was done so well. Machado brings to light how abuse in queer (esp WLW) relationships are overlooked in the justice system. And how people of color suffer even more in that system. The idea of being "gaslit" was so prevalent in this book and how abusers use that to manipulate their victims. I loved her use of the dreamhouse as a metaphor and the different references she makes "Dream House As Famous Last Words" & "Dream House As Queer Villiany" She highlights how  
when you don't see a queer woman, you don't see her pain.


Machado also talks about how easy it is for people to tell victims to leave or say something and she highlights how "You have forgotten how leaving is an option" & "He turns her mind into a prison" and even using the metaphor of her mother's dog to highlight this. This is the beauty of this book, she uses so much imagery to highlight her pain and her experience.

The format of the book on its own just made it unlike any other memoir that I've read - there's even a chapter where its "Choose Your Own Adventure". She adds footnotes from the "Motif Index of Folk Literature" which I don't totally get but its interesting to see the way that the different experiences of women are "categorised"

Highlights 

"All the unique and terrible ways in which people can, and do, fail...People love an idea, even if they don't know what to do with it. Even if they only know how to do the exactly the wrong thing."

"Our culture does not have an investment in helping queer folks understand what their experience means" 
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