2 good books

In the Dream House | Catalina

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (2019)

In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir of her relationship with a woman who swept her off her feet and ultimately brought her to her knees. Weaving personal history with academic research around abuse in same-sex relationships, Machado demonstrates how we’re all susceptible the charms of monsters and equally capable of escaping their grasp.

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (2024)

Catalina is a Dreamer, a young woman brought to the US as a child to be raised by her grandparents in Queens after the death of her parents in Ecuador. All three are undocumented and yet, despite their status, her grandparents scrape together a living and Catalina enrolls at Harvard.

Like her peers, she is disorganized yet seductive, making the mistakes only the young can get away with while also keenly aware she doesn’t have the same latitude as her classmates. As she navigates senior year classes, relationships, and the job prospects of a Harvard grad ineligible for a W2, we see the inherent paradox of the modern immigrant in America.