Book Review: In the Dream House By Carmen Maria Machado

In the Dream House

By Carmen Maria Machado

Finished reading: 22/08/21

My rating: 3.5/5 stars

“We deserve to have our wrongdoing represented as much as our heroism, because when we refuse wrongdoing as a possibility for a group of people, we refuse their humanity […] It’s not being radical to point out that people on the fringe have to be better than people in the mainstream, that they have twice as much to prove. In trying to get people to see your humanity, you reveal just that: your humanity. Your fundamentally problematic nature. All the unique and terrible ways in which people can, and do, fail.”

In the Dream House is an unusually abstract and innovative memoir presenting Machado’s experience as a victim of an abusive same-sex relationship and the hidden and untraceable discourse surrounding specifically cisgender lesbian relationships. Machado presents the archives of her memory alongside archives of queer history using different narrative lenses of fairy tales and various literary conventions and clichés.

I truly admire Machado’s bravery and talent that went in to producing this wonderfully creative and heart-wrenching project. It feels wrong of me to rate and review a victim’s experience of abuse as it feels as though I am criticising their memory. Regardless of my opinion on this book, it is undeniably an important piece of literature to exist for anyone who has ever experienced abuse, but more importantly, anyone within the LGBTQIA+ community who has ever felt invisible as a victim of abuse. I hope that these pages allow these individuals to be seen and have catalysed a mission for this gap in queer history to be filled.

Considering this is the first memoir I have ever read, I thought Machado’s use of structure and narrative voice challenged my expectations wonderfully. I loved the repeated references to Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk Literature as this is something I have previously studied and been fascinated by. It gave the story a timeless feel, emphasising how humans have and most likely always will suffer at the will of another. Whether it’s Bluebeard, Star Trek, Gaslight or one of the many other stories Machado presents, abuse and manipulation have this universal quality despite the differences in individual experiences. Many of the literary references were so rich and complex that most probably went completely over my head. However, the ones I identified added an extra layer of meaning to the overall story and I truly appreciated the detail and level of research reflected in every page alongside Machado’s personal memories.

Machado discusses the relationship between memory and place so vividly and creatively by exploring different methods of storytelling. I particularly enjoyed the choose-your-own-adventure element and the part this played in representing Machado’s psychology at the time of the events. Whilst both shocking an uncomfortable to read, it also had a very playful and bouncy quality. I admire Machado’s confidence and masterful flair as a writer. It is this that draws me to her writing and keeps me reading.

Despite the playfulness of the prose, I found the novelty began to wear off about halfway through the book. The beginning felt compelling and unusual but somehow lost momentum as it progressed. I understand the importance of the repetition in terms of representing the mental processing of trauma, however, as a reader, it felt a little too repetitive for my liking. The fragmentation was clever at relating to Machado’s emotional state, but, as a reader, felt a little messy and tricky to keep up with. I honestly found myself feeling almost relieved to finish it because I had lost interest towards the end.

Having said this, I fully appreciate this as an important piece of literature and completely respect Machado as a writer, but I would be lying to say I enjoyed every page. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect out of this book, but somehow it didn’t live up to whatever idea of it I had in my head. For this reason, I enjoyed it, but was not blown away like so many others seemed to be. This was unfortunate but I am still grateful to have read it and know that the themes will stick with me.