Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

51 reviews

wowaubrie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

katlouisee's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense

2.5

I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style, but my frustrations with it must not distract from the fact that queer domestic abuse isn't talked about enough. This was a heavy read, but it got me to confront the side of queerness that is not joyful and was a harsh reminder that abuse can come in all forms - nobody is excused or safe. I also found the nuance of generational abuse interesting -

it's implied fhat the woman in the dream house's childhood likely informed her own abusive behaviour,

and it was interesting to see her grapple with that, even briefly. 

There's no doubt that Machado is a skilled writer, and her words were carefully selected in this memoir, but I can't help feeling like I didn't get to know her other than in the context of her extremely toxic relationship. It felt a little too well-crafted, almost as though it was trying to make itself a seminal text (especially when it brought up the ocxasional queer theorist or stat). Not saying it isn't, but to me, the style sometimes obscured the subject matter seemingly for the sake of being artsy. I really hope I'm not diminishing Machado's story here - I'm fortunate enough not to have shared her experience, so can only assume how disorientating, dehumanising, and hurtful this relationship was for her. I'm not sure how much her stylistic choices were trying to emulate being broken down by a loved one or how much of it was the product of studying an MFA, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

jang's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

hannahbanana98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

fayemomodu's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely love this book. As someone who attending college at the University of Iowa I loved reading this as it takes place in Iowa City at the college. The book almost reads as poetry and is very beautiful written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

lpogo16's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Machado had a lot of courage in talking about her story and a lot of heart in telling the story of other queer women. This book really opened my eyes to a topic I never thought to look at head on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, and Dementia

The vibe of this book is really sad. The energy is very depressing though it does take a hopefully turn at the end.

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

In the Dream House is a masterpiece. Told in vignettes structured around literature tropes, this memoir follows the rise and fall of a profoundly abusive relationship. Machado is brave, vulnerable, and unflinchingly honest as she exposes the abuse she suffered across a 2 year relationship with another woman. She asks: if we view queer relationships as utopia divorced from patriarchy and hierarchy, are we being homophobic? Are lesbians not humans - complex, hurting, and capable of inflicting extreme harm? If we flatten a group of people into a monolith, we dehumanize them. This book is a necessary addition to the growing work on the incidence of abuse in queer relationships.

I've never read anything quite like this - I loved the vignette narrative structure. The book moved quickly because most sections were short. A couple of the tropes dragged on for me/didn't hit 100%, but I was enthralled and could hardly put it down. A few standouts for me - "Dream House as Deja Vu" (x3), "Dream House as Queer Villainy" (!!!), "Dream House as Bluebeard", "Dream House as the River Lethe", "Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure" ...... ok, I have to stop or I'm going to quote half of this work.

Even more wild: I was in Iowa City as an undergrad during the events of this book. Did I see Carmen and the Woman from the Dream House at a coffee shop, at Obama's speech, in a bookstore? It makes me shiver, the ways people suffer out of view.

Brilliant. Carmen Maria Machado is an absolute force and a genius of prose and innovative structure. I HIGHLY recommend this book, but mind the CW's. Machado doesn't shy away from the gore at the heart of her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Gun violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cow_png's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This was an incredible read and I wish that everyone could read this book! I kept thinking about and wanting to read most times in the day. 
The narrative lens were such an interesting way to write!! and I loved seeing how the way of writing would changed with it!
Definitely look at the content warning before reading if you are a sensitive person (Such as I) 
Amazing book, so happy that I read it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

auteaandtales's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The first time I gave this a try, I DNF’d it largely because me and audiobooks don’t gel and I didn’t like the narrator. The same was true this time around, as well, but I loved the actual content and I’m glad I gave it another go. It speaks on the authors personal experience with a domestically violent f/f relationship, but also speaks about what this means on a wider, larger scale. It was very good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

iwishihadmoretimetoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug abuse and Dementia