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

5.0

A memoir by Carmen Maria Machado is exactly what I needed right now. She never fails to make tragic circumstances and worldly/societal injustices sound so beautiful and so deeply rooted that you can't help but read on until the end. I loved the structure of this book, the endless use of such accurate metaphors/similes, the use of second person to really hit home and keep you engrossed in the pages, and the fact that Machado trusts her readers to interpret her writing in their own ways while somehow also making it clear that this is her story and she has the right to unapologetically tell it like it is. I took her utilization of second person as symbolism for her detachment from the self while remaining in the toxic, abusive relationship. That alone is so clever and heart-wrenching that it's tough to put to words how effective Machado's writing really is.