Read this when
In the Dream House
She kept asking: was it really abuse if it was a woman? Carmen Maria Machado wrote the book she couldn't find. 🏚️
Who it's for
Machado tells the story of her relationship with an unnamed woman (referred to only as the woman in the Dream House) during her Iowa MFA years, in dozens of short chapters each titled 'Dream House as...' and written mostly in second person.
Feelings it meets
What it is
In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's 2019 memoir (Graywolf Press) about an abusive relationship with an unnamed woman during her MFA studies at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Written in the second person, each short chapter uses a different narrative trope, interspersed with essay-like sections on the history of domestic violence in queer relationships and the 'archival silence' around it.
Where to find it
In print (Graywolf Press) and widely available; libraries (Libby/Hoopla); audiobook read by the author.
Before you start
Heads up: Intimate-partner abuse and gaslighting.
Age: Adult (18+)
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
