“Even if the dominant culture considers you an anomaly, that doesn’t mean you can’t be common, common as fucking dirt”

—‘In the Dream House’ is a memoir written by Carmen Maria Machado which chronicles her struggles in a same sex abusive relationship. In the Afterword, Maria Machado illuminates her intent of writing ‘In the Dream House’ not as a “comprehensive account of contemporary research about same sex domestic abuse or its history” but as a “very rough, working attempt at a canon [that] will be a useful resource, in addition to honoring the work that has gone before.” The memoir is made up of multi-length vignettes each with a title comparing the dream house to something. For example, “dream house as a self help best seller,” or “dream house as lesbian pulp novel,” or “dream house as the queen and the squid.” And I think that by doing this, Maria Machado does two things; 1) she makes it posible for the reader to “understand”—for lack of a better word—her abuse though metaphor and simile, 2) she connects her abuse to common American culture aspects. And I think this does a great job of discussion same sex abuse as not something mystic but as something common as fucking dirt. Pain, abuse, and trauma is something very hard to read about let alone write, but I recommend this memoir to anyone that is willing and ready to read it.