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read this for book club & i cannot stress enough how important this book is, especially to people who donāt necessarily understand the dynamics of an abusive relationship.
machado enters the archive to document her experience of abuse in a queer relationship. in this genre-defying book, we are quite literally placed in her shoes as she recounts in detail the emotional/psychological abuse she received from āthe girl in the dream houseā & we witness the damage it does to her.
i genuinely believe that everyone should read this book because getting out of an abusive relationship is more layered & complicated than people think
Jun 30, 2024
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i read this book right after leaving an abusive relationship, trying to figure out what love was for me and how i could see it in my recently shook up world.
bell hooks writes in a simple, honest language. itās a beautiful, accessible book that humbled me and taught me how to love people and where find the love i desired.
Feb 20, 2025
Please read this heart wrenching but cup filling novel. It truly made my friendships and our bonds feel represented in a way that is rarely depicted. Queer, Latinx, antifascist, pro-nonmonogamy, pro-sex work...
How will you be held as the most secure foundations of your life shift? What ways can you build a family and act on your dreams? So many beautiful questions asked and answered.
Feb 11, 2025
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So i have been on a mission to read books to figure out why i am kind of bad at the love thing and i am learning SOOOO much!!! this healing was so needed tbh i had kind of let things get to me and affect how i was treating people (romantic and platonic) and i want to do better. this book really solidified things in my head but also held me in a caring way. I have many more books in the chamber but i already feel so held accountable and so honest with myself itās great
Mar 19, 2024
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I think 10 year old addy wouldāve passed out if sheād known that she would come to own this in 13 yearsā¦you can take the girl out of bikini bottom but you canāt take bikini bottom out of the girl
Apr 23, 2025
i know it sounds so clichĆ© but i work for a climate organisation & i just came home from a work event so iām feeling very inspired/energised/refreshedā¦please find your community because it is tiring, draining, & almost impossible to drive social change alone. you donāt have to do it alone.
A community helps your cause. We protest, meet, rally, & cry in numbers for this reason. š
Jun 29, 2024
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i really also think about how much boys are taught ways to perform masculinity & how it is legitimised through tangible things like building a career etc but with women i find that from a young age our identity, behaviours, & thoughts are always spoken about in relation to other people/things ā gender roles within the family, how weāre perceived by men, our friendships with other women, our relationships with material things etc etc ā and this shows up in the labels that women are often given too! so and so is someoneās daughter, girlfriend, wife, mother etc etc. i envy the freedom of boyhood so much, the freedom to just be (this is not to discount the toxicity of traditional masculinity, i just think that boys are still afforded more āplayā and therefore have more opportunities to develop their sense of self).
maybe i am also biased because of how iāve grown up & whatnot but i never really understood what it meant to quote unquote be a woman or perform femininity. i only saw this modelled within my nurturing friendships with women as iāve gotten older but when i was younger, in church it was always āok well donāt do this or that because x y z will happen to men if you doā or within my extended family it was often āare you seeing anyone? when are you having kidsā. damn what happened to asking about how iām doing or what my dreams are!!!
long rant sorry !! but thatās my long winded way of saying āi feel youā haha
Jun 28, 2024