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Cover of In the Dream House

Horror · 2019 · R

In the Dream House

by Carmen Maria Machado

A memoir of a relationship that became a haunted house — told through the language of genre fiction

A revolutionary memoir about domestic abuse by the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. And it’s that struggle that gives the book its original structure: each chapter is driven by its own narrat

For17+GenreHorrorLength264 pagesRead time~7 hoursCommunity ratings0

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Barely any

No physical violence; the relationship documented is psychologically and emotionally abusive rather than physically violent

Language

Some

Some profanity throughout

Sexual Content

Barely any

Same-sex relationship; sexual content is briefly present but not the focus

Substance Use

None

Minimal substance use

Emotional Intensity

Very heavy

Extreme psychological content: detailed and sustained depiction of emotional abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, and PTSD — this is the entire subject of the memoir

What this book is about

Carmen Maria Machado documents her relationship with a deeply abusive woman through the lens of genre conventions — haunted houses, fairy tales, choose-your-own-adventure, and more. One of the most formally innovative memoirs of the past decade, In the Dream House is also one of the most honest accounts of psychological abuse ever written: gaslighting, isolation, manipulation, and the way a controlling partner erodes the self. Machado situates her experience within the broader history of lesbian relationships and the silence that surrounds abuse in queer communities.

Notes for sensitive readers

Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

Detailed depictions of psychological and emotional abuse throughout

Gaslighting and controlling relationship behavior documented extensively

PTSD and trauma processing as central subject matter

Content may be triggering for survivors of abusive relationships

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