✨In the Dream House✨ . “This is what I keep returning to: how people decide who is or is not an unreliable narrator. And after that decision has been made, what do we do with people who attempt to construct their own vision of justice?” . This memoir utilizes a fascinating narrative structure to tell the heartbreaking story of Carmen Maria Machado’s abusive relationship with her ex-girlfriend. . Apart from Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir, Fun Home, this is the best and most unique memoir I’ve ever read. While the subject matter is difficult to read about, I found myself wanting to know how the story would be told in the next chapter. Very close to the beginning of the book, Machado discusses archives and who decides what gets remembered and how it is remembered. This discussion is then tied to abuse in queer relationships. Since grad school, I’ve been really interested in archives and who/how they are created so this was such an interesting way to think about this type of story. The narrative itself is broken into short chapters and reminds me of books I’ve read about pop culture studies where it’s broken down topic by topic. For example, there’s a chapter called ‘Dream House as World Building” and talks about the fact that abusers often isolate their victims and compares that to letting an isolated setting be a huge part of the story. There is also a chapter that operates like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story and it’s absolutely heartbreaking because there’s no way to get a happy ending. As far as the subject matter itself, definitely check out trigger warnings and make sure you’re in an okay place because there were some times I had to stop and focus on my breathing. Machado does a great job at capturing and conveying the slow progression of abuse while adding the nuance of this happening in a relationship between two women with some of the best writing I’ve ever read. . Tigger Warnings from BookTriggerWarnings(dot)com Domestic abuse Emetophobia . #InTheDreamHouse #Memoir #NonFiction #LGBTQIA #CarmenMariaMachado #BookReview #BookRecommendations #BookBlogger #BookBlog #BookishCommunity #Bookstagrammer #Bookstagram #bibliophile #bookishLoveGroup https://www.instagram.com/p/CMaTaINgJHX/?igshid=11oc1105v9ydw
