Enter to win Carmen M. Machado's 'In the Dream House,' a memoir on queer domestic abuse
A little thank you for being a Foreign Bodies subscriber
Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House is one of the most innovative and haunting memoirs I’ve ever read and I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to share it with one of you as our latest Foreign Bodies giveaway pick. We’ll be mailing one lucky subscriber a new copy of the novel with a message from Carmen herself. Entries accepted through Friday, June 5 at 8 p.m. EST.
PSA: This giveaway is only open to paying subscribers or comps (gifted subscriptions). If you’re interested in subscribing but haven’t yet—click here!
About the book
In the Dream House is an inventive and electrifying memoir about a toxic same-sex relationship primarily set in a small home in Bloomington, Indiana, where a younger Machado and her former girlfriend once lived together.
“Sometimes when you look at your phone, she has sent you something stunningly filthy, and there is a kick of want between your legs. Sometimes when you catch her looking at you, you feel like the luckiest person in the whole world… Sometimes when you look at your phone, she has sent you something stunningly cruel, and there is a kick of fear between your shoulder blades. Sometimes when you catch her looking at you, you feel like she’s determining the best way to take you apart.”
Throughout the book, which is narrated in second person as an address to her younger self, Machado eloquently dissects the emotional, psychological and verbal abuse within the relationship with witty narrative commentary on pop culture and the nature of female queerness in mainstream media.
“This is Machado's story of suffering and survival,” Gabino Iglesias wrote for NPR last year. “But you are in there, and that makes the house your house, the girlfriend your girlfriend, the pain your pain, and the abuse Machado endured something you must digest and process yourself.”
Listen to an excerpt via This American Life here.
Praise for In the Dream House
“Merge the house and the woman—watch the woman experience her own body as a haunted house, a place of sudden, inexplicable terrors—and you are reading the blazingly talented Carmen Maria Machado.”
—Parul Sehgal, The New York Times
Machado’s debut memoir won the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction, was long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, was named a finalist for the Stonewall Book Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award and for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction.
In the Dream House was also reviewed as one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, TIME Magazine, New York Times, NPR, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Vulture, Autostraddle, Vogue, Paris Review, Kirkus, The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic and more. According to LitHub and Paste, it’s one of the best memoirs of the decade.
For when you’re all done…
About Foreign Bodies giveaways
Whenever I read a book I fall in love with, I’m driven to give everyone around me a sprinkle of the magic. That means you too. These little surprise giveaways are my special way of thanking you for joining the Foreign Bodies family. I hope the books and collections I send your way make you feel a little more at home, or perhaps inspire you to learn a bit more about the myriad voices out there, voices we don’t get the privilege of hearing as often as we could.
Giveaway rules
Entrants must be paying subscribers or comps (gift recipients) of the Foreign Bodies Newsletter and must have a valid U.S. mailing address. You may only enter once and must use the email address affiliated with your account. Each entry will be assigned a number and winner(s) will be chosen using the Random Integer Generator. Winner(s) will be notified via email and your gift will come personally packaged in the mail.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email 4nbodies@gmail.com.
Recommend a book!
Have a favorite immigrant-written book, collection of essays or poetry or what-have-you? Stories that made you feel understood? Stories about immigrant or refugee experiences, about mental illness? Send your recommendations—especially if it’s your own work. And check out the wealth of books and essays we already have up on foreignbodies.net!
Are you an author?
Want your book or collection to be part of a Foreign Bodies giveaway? Just fill out this form and we’ll be in touch as soon as a giveaway slot opens.
Love,
Fiza