Reviews May Vary

Hello, Friends! I missed you all last month when I missed the magazine’s deadline because yes, I was reading! Let me tell you. Any good habit can become a vice if you’re not careful, y’all. I have two very different books for you this month. I loved both of them; each gave me a sense of wan<ng to start the book again immediately aOer finishing. As always, be aware of your own capacity to read about the struggles of others. Drop me a line at Reviews May Vary@ gmail.com with your thoughts and comments about these books as well as recommenda<ons that you think I should read. Follow along with my bookventures on Facebook, Instagram, and youtube.com/c/reviewsmayvary.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Memoir)

This book is a memoir that is rich in metaphor and lyrical language. Each chapter is short and explores the author’s experience as a young co-ed involved in one of her earliest romantic relationships. The essays take you from the exciting beginnings through the increasing emotional abuse and manipulation of their time together. Each chapter is short and thoughnul. Interestingly, Machado offers references in footnote to classic literary and movie themes that are reflected in her stories. You know that Machado is eventually free of this relationship, she assures the reader several times and currently lives with her wife in Philadelphia, but you still worry for her as she loses

more and more of herself to “the woman in the dream house.” It is a short book, but does not feel like a quick read. It is well worth the time.

Here's a book quote for you:

“We can’t stop living. Which means we have to live, which means we are alive, which means we are humans and we are human: some of us are unkind and some of us are confused and some of us sleep with the wrong people and some of us make bad decisions and some of us are murderers. And it sounds terrible but it is, in fact, freeing: the idea that queer does not equal good or pure or right. It is simply a state of being one subject to politics, to its own social forces, to larger narratives, to moral complexities of every kind. So bring on the queer villains, the queer heroes, the queer sidekicks and secondary characters and protagonists and extras. They can be a complete cast unto themselves. Let them have agency, and then let them go.”

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Fantasy)

This book is completely different from the other one! Linus Baker is a caseworker for an agency that oversees orphanages for magical children descended from mythical creatures. He’s a pushover, he doesn’t have any friends, and he’s oOen being mistreated by his co-workers, his boss, and his neighbor. He has no ambi<ons. However, he is very good at his job and he is proud of that. One day he gets assigned to check in on a secret facility on an island that he’s never

heard of. The children’s caretaker, Arthur, is a mysterious cutie-pie who would do anything to make sure the kids stay safe. They’ve been living isolated from a town that fears them. Arthur helps Linus connect to joy and not be so stodgy and Linus helps Arthur consider a longer term approach to parenting and living an authentic life. You get the idea. This book was so cute and I loved every slightly- cheesy minute of it.

Here’s a book quote:

“Humanity is so weird. If we’re not laughing, we’re crying or running for our lives because monsters are trying to eat us. And they don’t even have to be real monsters. They could be the ones we make up in our heads. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea