When In the Dream House was published by Carmen Maria Machado in 2019, it rocketed into the limelight. Lauded for its literary experimentation and brave exploration of the taboos and complexities of queer identity, the book won the 2019 Bisexual Book Award, 2020 Judy Grahn Award, 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction, and 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize.
While In the Dream House is nonfiction, it reads like a fairy tale rolled into a gothic novel. With dark wit and literary intelligence, Machado vividly describes falling in love with her "dream girl" before their relationship takes a dark turn into domestic abuse. If Machado's book gripped you, you'll be happy to hear that there are other nonfiction reads with dark fairy tale and mythology vibes that focus on fragmented identity. Here are five books to read if you're mourning the end of In the Dream House and want something similar.
Like In the Dream House, Don’t Come Back touches on themes of home, identity, and belonging. In the story arc formed by this collection of lyrical essays, the reader is left to question what a sense of self and allegiance to family ties actually mean in the big picture of "belonging somewhere." This collection of essays has dark mythological vibes that intertwine with the familiar insecurities and fears of idealizing a past that no longer exists. Columbian and Andean myths are used to shine a light on the concept of never really being able to return home.
In this experimental book, Nelson blends philosophical theory with memoir to comment on themes of desire, identity, romance, gender, and sexuality. On the surface, The Argonauts is a story about Nelson's relationship and parenthood journey with a gender-fluid artist named Harry Dodge. However, readers will find a much deeper commentary on academia, sexuality, the limitations of language, and the ways that families of any shape are squeezed by the pressures of society. The Argonaut was awarded a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2015.
TIME, NPR, the New York Public Library, Book Riot, and Entropy all named White Magic a best book of the year when it was released in 2021. In this collection of essays, Washuta takes a look at the dark underbelly of American society and culture through the exploration of themes including environmental consciousness, spirituality, colonization, heartbreak, and exploitation. Like Machado's In the Dream House, White Magic delves into domestic abuse, as well as Washuta's efforts to heal through therapy and reclaim power through spellcasting. Washuta seeks to reconnect with the discarded and vilified power of her ancestors, and like Machado, her memoir charts her search for love, identity, and a sense of home.
Daring and sharp, A Bestiary is a poetic work that blends myth, beauty, and language to follow three generations of Taiwanese-American women who are deeply connected to the myths of the homeland. Like In the Dream House, Hoang's spellbinding tale unearths buried themes of femininity, family secrets, queer desires, and the elusive feeling of belonging. As one of the main characters discovers that each woman in her lineage embodies a myth, A Bestiary also beautifully touches on the power of sovereignty versus destiny.
Fletcher's bold collection of essays cuts into themes of identity and belonging in ways that feel familiar to anyone who has freshly read In the Dream House. As a memoirist, Fletcher does an incredible job of blending cultural myth, the landscape of the American Southwest, and personal experiences to comment on the power and limitations of language, form, and memory. In Finding Querencia, the "place" that the author seeks is a state of self-acceptance that aligns all his fragmented, separately labeled parts.
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