In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Memoir. Queer. Pretty Writing.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages: 272

Started: 10 December 2023

Finished: 11 December 2023

Summary: In an imaginative and beautifully woven memoir told in vignettes cenered around different literary tropes, Carmen Maria Machado tells the story of the abuse she experienced in a lesbian relationship. 

Thoughts: I am normally not one for memoirs; a stranger’s life-story told in such vibrant detail tends to make me uncomfortable, tends to seem too vulnerable. While this still held true for In The Dream House, the beauty and importance of Machado’s story mostly overrrode the discomfort. The memoir was beautiful—artful writing, gorgeous use of symbolism pointed out in a way that made it seem just the right amount of obvious, immersive descriptions of scenes from the author’s life and also from other pieces of media or parts of history—and important—the book’s ultimate point was to draw attention to the fact that abuse within queer relationships is painful and difficult and very very real.  The structure of the story was brilliant--very short chapters, all themed with obscure literary tropes that even on their own were fascinating to think about . The balance between the artistry of the book, and Machado's story, was very well done. Her use of symbolism was an excellent lesson that almost anything can be used as a symbol, and the interweaving of other stories or pieces of media was gorgeous.

    It was a little hard for me, someone who did have access to understanding that Machado did not when these events were happening, to understand the scope of the impact of not having access to representation of this type, but I'm very glad this book is in the world, because of both its artistry and its social impact.

Words: 

   Anechoic (adj) not having or producing echoes [anechoic chamber (n) a room designed to stop reflections or echoes

    Lassitude (n) a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy

    Zeitgeist (n) the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time