“I can not find what’s missing. I am trying and trying, and I cannot; as I fail, I shrink. I shrink down into dirt, wood, and worms.”
TW abuse
A brave thing it is, to share your story in all it’s beauty and ugliness. “In the Dream House,” is the best memoir I’ve read; it’s one of the best books I’ve read. Vulnerable, artistic, scary, and wonderful, Carmen Maria Machado elicits just about every emotion one can feel reading this collection of short stories meets single story memoir. She seamlessly moves between first and second person, making you feel for her and like her. Interspersed are descriptions and themes from literature and film and history that are not only relevant to Machado’s story, but to everyone’s. Her feelings are intense and striking, as she shares the additional barriers of being queer and a person of color in an abusive relationship and the pressure to not fail the “queer community.” “Dream House as Noir,” “Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure,” and “Dream House as Death Wish” were among my favorites. Machado’s writing is poetic and strong and imaginative and honest and diverse- all the things she hoped it would be and all the things that she is.