“In the Dream House” is a hall of mirrors, “a book about a house that was not a house and a dream that was no dream at all”
Graywolf Press; 272 pages; $26. To be published in Britain by Serpent’s Tail in January; £14.99.burst onto the American literary scene in 2017 with “Her Body and Other Parties”, a surreal and raunchy collection of stories. Two years later comes an unorthodox memoir that recounts her emotional abuse by a girlfriend over several years. But “In the Dream House” is also a hall of mirrors, “a book about a house that was not a house and a dream that was no dream at all”.
The book is composed of scores of short sections, like shards, in which Ms Machado deploys every literary trick and trope in the canon. Some examine her trauma using these devices ; others employ themes from folklore; still others are comprised of philosophical propositions and analytical essays. Now at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms Machado is a scholar of narrative structure, and students of literature will find this approach provocative and rich; others may consider it too clever by half.
She seems intent on smashing boundaries between genres, and between reality and imagination. Footnotes show how pervasive violent abuse has been through all times and tales. She offers trenchant commentary on the legend of Bluebeard and an episode of “Star Trek”. Later, she powerfully re-stages the airless trap of the abusive relationship, in which no answer placates a controlling partner, by creating a “Choose Your Own Adventure” that circles and circles on itself.
Presenting personal pain as a thriller might seem exploitative. Yet her story is inherently filled with suspense. As in a horror film, the reader is pulled onward to find out how the heroine will escape. The eventual denouement comes with a tricksy, if somewhat superficial, “Surprise Ending” and a “Plot Twist”.
Perhaps most important, her book is a bid to break the silence surrounding abuse in the queer community. In any marginalised group there is a fear of airing dirty linen, she notes. “The desire to save face, to present a narrative of uniform morality, can defeat every other interest.” Yet anyone can be an abuser; women sometimes harm women. She imagines telling younger lesbians this truth: “The world is full of hurt people who hurt people.
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