• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 September #2
  *Starred Review* In this memoir, Machado (Her Body and Other Parties, 2017) chronicles her abusive relationship with a former partner, a slim blonde woman who is referred throughout as the woman from the Dream House. The Dream House in question is the Bloomington, Indiana home that Machado periodically spent time in during their long-distance relationship. She presents the story in fragments: Dream House as Noir, Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure, Dream House as Stoner Comedy, Dream House as Entomology. This formal device presents the faceted experience of her past, examining it not only as personal trauma but also through wider contexts, especially the ways in which abuse in lesbian relationships is often complicated by gendered stereotypes, the pressure to avoid presenting negative images of lesbian relationships to straight people, and even the imagined utopia of same-sex partnerships being free from the problems of their hetero counterparts. The writing exhibits all of the formal precision of her fiction, and the book draws the reader deep into the varied rooms of the haunted house of the past. Highly recommended to fans of Machado's fiction and to anyone interested in LGBTQ memoir, domestic abuse, or chilling and precise examinations of human relationships at their worst. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of Her Body and Other Parties, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. She lives in Philadelphia with her wife.