We pulled out all our good chairs this evening to host our Gay Reads Book Club, and readers piled in to discuss Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House. The response was positive, if a bit harried. 

Structure came up a lot as shorter chapters give space to the writing. Space and humor facilitating what would otherwise be a difficult experience to read.
“Stewing over the same thing in all these different ways” is stressful, cyclical, and true to what had been endured.

Putting sources to your own personal experience - enjoying the footnotes and facts - evidence in myths and fairy tales - a reflection of the cultural mindset 

How much abuse within queer relationships is simply ingrained misogyny? Historical accounts of court cases both stirred and surprised. Racialization further complicates matters.

The group was further divided on book design - the fore edge of the text block spurred strong feelings.

On belief and fantasy - “À propos of nothing: I don’t believe in gay people. She replies: Well, we believe in you. Such a good line!"

On the dream house - safety and shelter or entrapment and fear. Never just a house, but a hazy entity transforming and enveloping.

On memory and its loss - how terrifying it is to have to rely on it, and on memory and how fallible we are.

Further reading in memoirs, magical realism, heavy stuff, and crying: