"But my nervous system remembers. The lenses of my eyes. My cerebral cortex, with its memory and language and consciousness. They will last forever, or at least as long as I do. They can still climb onto the witness stand. My memory has something to say about the way trauma has altered my body's DNA, like an ancient virus.

I think a lot about what evidence, had it been measured or recorded or kept, would help make my case. Not in a court of law, exactly, because there are many things that happen to us that are beyond the purview of even a perfectly executed legal system. But the court of other people, the court of the body, the court of queer history". p.258

In the Dream House is far more than a memoir, it's an exploration of how we tell our stories, who tells them, where we write them and even why we tell them. It is an incredible examination of the lens upon which we read, watch and digest the events of the world around us.

Machado brilliantly switches up her narrative styles and frames to use different gazes and perspectives on which to tell her own experiences.

She digs into her experiences of abuse; emotional and psychological, and explores how we frame abuse in society. How abuse in queer relationships (focusing on cis-gendered lesbian relationships) is viewed compared to heterosexual relationships; the intersectionality of gender stereotypes, gendered behaviours and race upon how abuse is perceived and responded to. The failings of the law, the failings of society, and the failure to believe and understand the victim when there are no physical signs of abuse.

Machado's structure of short chapters ranging in length from a single paragraph to several pages means her breadth of topics and themes does not feel disjointed. It allows her to intersperse her personal experiences with film, literary and other cultural explorations. She uses fairytales such as Bluebeard to offer an unsettling insight into her own experience. She also explores the queer identity by exploring topics such as the depiction of queer people as villains and how Disney villains often have queer identities.

In The Dream House is multifaceted and extraordinary literary piece that had me googling many a term because it has an incredible focus on language. By no means is this alienating and I found myself drawn in to Machado's experiences throughout. I think it's difficult to put into words a real review of this book that reflects one's reading experience. It's a book to sit and contemplate, digest and consider.