Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

42 reviews

sapphothebittersweet's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

By far one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Considering I just finished the book, it will take me a while to be able to formulate an actual review and process everything that I just read, but right now I am speechless. Please read this book if you haven't already especially if you yourself have experienced domestic violence within a same-sex relationship and wish to feel seen and heard. This book does a phenomenal job explaining the nuance between lesbophobia, homophobia, and the very real reality that anyone of any gender or sexuality can be abused or be abusive to others. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Lesbophobia

squidknees's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, Self harm, Bullying, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Blood

readersreadingnook's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Drug use, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit

whatafckinglosr's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Machado's "In the Dream House" is a literary tour de force that masterfully blends multiple genres, cliches, and forms of writing. The book is a intriguing exploration of the complexities of abusive relationships, and Machado's candid anecdotes about her own experiences are weirdly thought provoking. I was immediately hooked by her writing style and the sheer depth of her storytelling. This was a beautifully written and gut wrenching read. It's undoubtedly one of my favorite books I've read in 2023 so far.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism

veeples's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

The beautiful, dreamy prode Machado employs is a brilliant and sharp contrast to the devastation that she experiences. It reads like poetry, though it’s not. It’s fluid and heartbreaking and gorgeous, and I am so glad to have read it. If you are a queer person, and even if you’re not, I think it’s a valuable read as a narrative that describes a mentally and emotionally abusive relationship and how its just as harmful as a physically abusive one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Biphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Dementia, Car accident, and Body shaming

sarahcerdena's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

murrderdith's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

This memoir was so beautifully and unsparingly devastating. Machado is unflinching in her account of (as Machado notes herself) all of the "legal" ways a partner can abuse and diminish you while also rooting the narrative within a folkloric framework (she never names the Woman in the Dream House, the only character without one in the way that the villains of those first stories we learn never have names as we recognize them)--returning again and again to the tropes of these ur-texts. Her language moves from ethereal and gauzy to razor-sharp in a way that reinforces the whiplash experience of having a volatile, erratic partner. 

**I would recommend looking at the content warnings from other users before reading this book if you are at all concerned it may be a difficult read for you to work through. I will add some but it is a likely an incomplete list**

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

This is a memoir of domestic abuse. It is beautifully written but not necessarily something everyone is in the right place to read. That said, it could also serve as a text the reader recognizes themselves in. I think it can be worth reading painful, recognizable texts for this reason. Proceed with caution.

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Dysphoria, Sexual assault, Confinement, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Rape

Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Animal death, Car accident, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Eating disorder, Vomit, Murder, and Medical content

gladystobehere's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

lightliterature's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Alcoholism