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A review by millibear
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
How do I put this. This book made me pace a lot.
God. It's Machado's memoir of being in an abusive queer relationship. Each chapter is stylized or themed after a named topic; it worked for me because it was great framing for the (usually upsetting) content.
A later cluster of chapters lives rent-free in my head still.The Choose Your Own Adventure section? Oh my God. What a great use of form. It really hammered home how 1. bleak the relationship was by then 2. how repetitive the abuse was 3. how inescapable the abuse was (all of the page choices making you go back to the start of the day or a time of the day!!) 4. the extra meta chastisement from Machado if you just read the pages through straight, goddamn ("not following the CYOA rules doesn't mean you can escape that this happened").
God. It's Machado's memoir of being in an abusive queer relationship. Each chapter is stylized or themed after a named topic; it worked for me because it was great framing for the (usually upsetting) content.
A later cluster of chapters lives rent-free in my head still.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Rape