In the Dream House cover art

In the Dream House

A Memoir

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In the Dream House

By: Carmen Maria Machado
Narrated by: Carmen Maria Machado
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About this listen

Nominated for The Rathbones Folio Prize.

In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing experience with a charismatic but volatile woman, this is a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Each chapter views the relationship through a different lens, as Machado holds events up to the light and examines them from distinct angles. She casts a critical eye over legal proceedings, fairy tales, Star Trek and Disney villains, as well as iconic works of film and fiction, infusing all with her characteristic wit, playfulness and openness to enquiry. The result is a powerful book that explodes our ideas about what a memoir can do and be.

©2019 Carmen Maria Machado (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Indigenous Creators LGBTQ+ Studies Lesbian Studies Mental Health Awareness Memoir Dream

Critic Reviews

"A dark jewel reflecting something startling - familiar and strange." (Guardian)

"Ravishingly beautiful." (Observer)

"Excruciatingly honest and yet vibrantly creative." (Irish Times)
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This book is challenging, painfully beautiful, and challenges the reader to expand their understanding of humanity. The imagery and metaphors are stunning. I also liked the author reading her own memoir

An important and beautiful account

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got me out of my reading rut. very interesting and emotional to listen to, i enjoyed the author’s way of writing and the concept of the dream house. the narration felt perhaps a bit cliche/cringey¿ at times but overall very moving and entertaining

interesting memoir

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Such an emotional book and the prose is just beautiful. Also points out importance of having conversations regarding abusive queer relationship. Highly recommend!!!!

Incredible writing

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A touch stone for queer women or for a person who wants to understand a queer women's experience with domestic abuse. this book gave me solice in my darkest time. So poteticly beautiful , engaging story you will be twisted and spun, with a friend holding your hand through out.

a touch stone for queer women

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Absolutely captivating from the first page. I haven’t highlighted a book so much in a long time. What beautiful writing for such a harrowing experience.

Incredible memoir

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Amazing! Such a well written memoir. Undoubtedly difficult to express the intensities of the abusive relationship and surrounding emotions and Carmen did it with grace that displayed strength in vulnerability. Finished the book in one sitting, entirely immersed.

Beautifully Told Story

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i started this as an assignment for my job's book club and was initially astonished by the frank vulgarity of the memoir (though not dissuaded by it). i was glad to hear about more queer* stories and experiences outside my own and my surrounding community. i must say this author has a way of spinning the dramatics of their life in an enrapturing way, and i was hooked and invested despite my disdain for the author's voice (this, i recognize, is an opinion of my own and does not take away from the messages of the work). that being said, the switches to 2nd person perspectives and academic prose were often out of nowhere and i believe could have been included more languidly

good for queers*, bad for ears (sometimes)

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A personal, lush and disturbing memoir meets creative non-fiction exploring domestic violence in queer relationships between women. It creatively uses gothic horror and other genre elements to create a brutal and haunting picture of abuse. A must read.

Innovative and haunting

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what I liked about this book was the honest and compelling account of an abusive relationship and the broader issues around violence in queer relationships. but i found the constant refrain of 'dream house as...' incredibly irritating and i wasn't sure about some of the content towards the end of the book - some of it didnt feel very relevant or necessary.

mixed feelings

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.