I finished In The Dream House for the second time! This is my first reread since I initially go it in 2021. I can't quite remember exactly when I read it but I remember the lasting emotional impact on me. It's my first reread of a book since I started trying to take reading seriously and track my progress in 2020. I said that I wasn't allowed rereads within a short time (as I one reread the same book 5 times over 2 years) but I kept seeing the book on my self and had a nagging feeling. I couldn't remember any details of the book, just Machado's retelling and exploration of her abusive relationship, with the woman from the Dream House, through different narrative lenses. The way the story is told is so fasinating to me, how each "chapter" is a different literary devise or setting eg. Dream House as American Gothic, or Dream House as Deja Vu, or Dream House as choose your own adventure. When I first read it I think I was just out of my first relationship. And now being recently out of my third (all of which queer, as I am queer) I do feel differently about the book. The sense of dread I had reading the beginning chapters - whether from vaguely knowing what's to come or my own feeling about intimate relationships - was very visceral. The book it great at intertwining education with Machado's personal experiences. I definately feel it is an essential read, knowing that domestic abuse can look a certain way is different from the understanding I feel like one walks away with after reading this.