This book got under my skin and won't let go. Sure it's moving, devastating, witty, but honestly reading it is such a particular experience that words run short.

Something I specially liked: obviously it's a memoir but it yanks you from one genre to another (i.e. from horror to comedy). It couldn't work in any other way. The shifts keep you on your toes; they reflect the uncertainty of an abusive relationship while offering a sense of hope in a harrowing journey.

And the structure is so smart! Each chapter-vignette, each quote and footnote and heading are bricks to build a new canon. Because the author couldn't find a context in which to make sense of her experience, she created one herself (while gifting us with a much-needed precedent). No more "archival silence".

None of this makes it hard to follow or takes you away from the story. The writing is bewitching at times, always rich in feelings. I want to read everything Carmen Maria Machado has ever written.