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This was the most unique, brilliant memoir I have ever read. I‘m not really a memoir person (I didn‘t realize it was a memoir when I bought it), but Machado is such a gifted writer. Her collection of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties, was the first book I posted about on Litsy and I remember similarly being blown away by her sheer talent after reading that. Highly recommend.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I decided at the start of this year to read slower and to savor books more. And success! Halfway through January and here is all that I‘ve finished- much fewer than this time last year 😉 fav so far is tagged…
However, I am reminded of why I was a little more amped up in pace when I realized I also have 7 other books in progress and most of those are back on library hold 🤦🏻‍♀️

Wow. Just wow. This was powerful and I applaud Carmen Maria Machado for writing this harrowing memoir about queer domestic abuse.

This is beautiful and sad, gorgeously written and a devastating look at an abusive relationship. Can‘t wait to discuss this tomorrow night at book club!

Carmen Maria Machdo is brave for putting her story of queer domestic abuse out there for the world to read, and brave for bringing the subject into the light. It took me a minute to understand her writing style, but once I got accustomed to it, I really felt transported into her life.

Ok as promised, though a little late, my “review” of the tagged. Loved it. The fragmented, 2nd person (mostly), experimental book packs a powerful punch, and never felt kitch to me, or cheesy, or anything other than impressive. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (tw‘s though)

Also read The Christie Curse #LMPBC #groupM and realllly enjoyed it!! Will definitely read more! 🌝

And with that, finished my Goodreads goal! 💃🏽💃🏽

And just a little note to summer 😡😜

Read first week of August-mixed feelings with this memoir. I liked the writing style but I don‘t know, sometimes was confused for a memoir: sometimes was written in second person, sometimes first person. Sometimes narrated in this beautiful style but then sometimes it was more informative about data and facts, which I found so interesting. I loved that metaphor to use the concept of a house to explain her life/relationships 3.5/3.8⭐️

“Fear makes liars of us all.”

Happy Thursday 😌

Whoa this was wild. There were moments of laughter but like…maybe nervous laughter? It was good. Really good. But also really heavy. I loved the bits of trivia and random information in there, and felt crushed by the experiences and themes so openly described and discussed. Beautifully written.

I did not expect to like this book because I don‘t normally read nonfiction. However since it was a selection of the Literati Book Club last year I decided to go ahead and read it and I was surprised because I really liked it. This is a memoir and I loved the format and the writing style. This book definitely gave the reader an inside look at a toxic abusive relationship which unfortunately is relatable to many people.

"I cannot help but marvel at the singular damage of this dark idea: That my existence as a child was a kind of debt and nothing, no matter how small, was mine."

"Fear makes liars of us all."

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Machado is an obviously talented writer, but oof, this style. It came off as gimmicky and I didn‘t care for it. It‘s not the subject matter, it‘s the pretension that seeps from the writing itself. An utterly taxing experience; perhaps a metaphor for her relationship with that awful woman. The pop culture references as evidence were brilliant, however.

I put this book off for awhile, needing the right head space for it.
I wasn‘t a huge fan of the execution, the experiment, but I understand why she did it this way. In relationships like the one Machado had, there is no way to look straight at it without sounding cliche or dramatic.
Ironically, I‘ve tried to use a house to explain the same thing.
If you need to feel seen, understood, read this.

I wish I had the words you write a review that encompasses the revolutionary quality of this book. The form and structure are unlike anything I've read, and it packs such an emotional punch. @Liz_M thank you for including this on your #NewYearWhoDis list. I may have never picked it up otherwise. @monalyisha

I recommend memoirs most often, and these are my go-tos:
In the Dreamhouse
Priestdaddy
Heavy
I recommend fiction less but a few novels I have suggested:
Normal People
Fleischman is in Trouble
American Wife
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Brown Girl Dreaming
Thanks for the tag @TheLudicReader 🙂
#sundaysoapbox @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

An excellent memoir about an abusive relationship… as expected, it‘s dark and upsetting, but it‘s also very hopeful and Machado‘s wonderful writing, together with the inventive way she tells her story, made it a great read.

I thought it was brilliant on audio, read by the author, but I did have to speed it up… her delivery was really slow at regular speed.

My second winner from @Amandajoy and her fab #NYWD22 list.

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I don't know what to say about this book other than it came at the right time for me and I think I will re-visit it again and again and again.

When you know by page 15 that a book will break you.

This book was very disturbing much of the time, but it was so good! It is a chilling story of domestic violence.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I listened to this on audio. It took a little time to get used the the author‘s cadence (I sped it up a little) but once I did I hardly thought about it. Her use of second person was really effective. Partner abuse is a tough subject and I think this is an important read. I really want to read her short story collection!

"Sometimes your tongue is removed, sometimes you still it of your own accord. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die. Sometimes you have a name, sometimes you are named for what-not who-you are. The story looks a little different, depending on who is telling it.....But the truth is, anyone who knows your name can break you in two."

Difficult yet really well done memoir. @TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

I kind of loved this. The subject is obviously very serious, partner abuse within same sex female relationships, but the author is so honest. And the writing is beautiful.

TW abuse
While heavy in subject matter, this book has levity in its deconstructed approach to story telling. The author plays with how the events would be told in various genres and settings.

Immersive read without tons of description. I enjoyed the “each chapter is a new thing” set up a lot. Important topic, and I appreciate how producing art like this would be cathartic for someone who experienced a relationship like that.

This was an eye opening book. I had never thought about abuse in same sex relationships and I think this was important for me to think about. I also really liked the writing style of Machado. It was poetic and clear.

The Dream House is all but a dream house. It is used as a metaphor to describe the toxic relationship between Carmen Maria Machado and an ex-girlfriend. The Dream House is a construction that enables the author to tell her story. It‘s such an inventive form of storytelling, I was deeply impressed, both by form and the painful content. Machado maken perfectly clear how hard is it to escape from an abusive relationship.

#WeeklyForecast 24/21

This should do the job! An easy graphic novel for #Booked2021 and #ReadingAsia2021, the Arabian travel book, this month‘s #NYRBBookClub choice and the tagged one by a favorite author! 🤞🏽

I'm only 40 minutes into the audio book, but I'm not enjoying it at all so far. I'm not following along on the random tangents the narration seems to be going down. It probably doesn't help that the author sounds like she's bored at a poetry open mic night as she reads this book... 😅

3✨ The writing in this memoir is excellent. I learned a lot of new words and the poetic style she used was keeping me going. There is emotional abuse in this that was hard to read. It was also backed by other articles, fairytales, and interesting analogies. Read for #LMPBC #GroupV

This is a fantastic audiobook by the author herself, hopefully I have got the pronouns right, did have a google 😊 What an insightful and interesting read. Read for #WhateverYouWantathon and for #ReadHarderChallenge2021 😊 4/5

Wow. That was one powerful gut punch of a book. This was a really interesting way to do a memoir. Several trigger warnings that can be gleaned from the description.

“Abusers do not need to be, and rarely are, cackling maniacs. They just need to want something and not care how they get it.”

What an emotional and unforgettable read. #memoir

#Saturday morning.

The writing in this book is beautiful, even if the subject matter is grave.

I‘ve never read a book like this and am grateful to my #LMPBC group for introducing me to this author. She tells a story about domestic abuse in a way that it completely unique. I‘ll admit I skipped some sleep last night because once I started I had to keep reading until I knew what happened.

Updating my #nonfiction2021 bingo board. Honestly, doing better than I expected!

This book was odd and wonderful. The sections are short, which always keeps me engaged. Each section is titled after a trope, some of which I had to look up. Parts of this book felt like work to understand, which is much different from what I expect from a memoir about an abusive relationship between 2 women. But not different in a bad way. Unique and memorable.
Read for #LMPBC #groupv #memoirs

Late night reading because I cannot sleep.

Incredible. I loved reading this queer memoir of domestic abuse (as strange as that is to say). Machado is erudite, intelligent & honest about her experience & writes with humour. I loved the structure, different ways into the problem but still a chronological narrative. A forensic look at abuse in lesbian relationships & the barriers to discussing it. A perfectly judged mix of her story - with precise vignettes - & historic /literary references.

A book that demands you to be present, to witness, to feel.

This really worked for me, even more than her short stories. A series of vignettes, each titled “The Dream House as….” Each one is a different take on an aspect of an abusive relationship. A specific moment, a memory, a mood. Throughout there is a reflection on how her story is both singular and universal. While a couple of chapters were too academic, many of the rest displayed a wry humor that I loved and Choose Your Own Adventure was brilliant.

Did I need to map out all the options on the "Choose your own adventure" part of this book? Why yes, yes I did.

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... cont IG

⭐️⭐️ I just could not get into this book. I gave it 2 stars because I did like a couple of things that she said. But, overall it was a dud for me. It is the story of a woman who is abused by her female lover. I just did not enjoy the way it was written.

This is a "pick" for me as a memoir and "so-so" as a book overall. It's creative in that self-conscious, Iowa Writers' Workshop way. As the author herself notes, it is not a unique story, and I wonder why she still feels compelled to tell it seven years after the fact. Not a criticism, just a curiosity. Personally, I stopped telling my story after about a year, although I still think about it often; 25 years and it still doesn't make sense.