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dizzzybrook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Vomit, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
hannahparadise's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Self harm, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Mental illness, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual assault
booksjessreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
I would say that this book represents such a graphic account of life in an abusive relationship and I felt that the pace of this book was really fast. I appreciated that chapters being a page or two reflected the snapshots of what Lilja could remember. I thought that the names of the chapters were aptly named. I felt as though the pace also reflected the way in which time passed for Lilja when she was in her relationship.
I haven't given this a star rating because I felt the subject matter was not something that should be 'rated' per se. A further note is that the translation was really smooth and the text flowed really well. A very heavy book, but a book I appreciated a lot.
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Vomit and Eating disorder
Minor: Pregnancy
lavendar_fr0g's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Blood, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Vomit, Body shaming, and Sexism
kaltain's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, and Vomit
gabriellejane's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Infidelity and Vomit
Minor: Pregnancy
karolinakriauzaite's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, and Sexism
raniaa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Rape, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Minor: Vomit and Fatphobia
whatvictoriaread's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
shrutislibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Just like the narrator of 'Rebecca', Mrs De Winter who is haunted by the ghost of the lingering Rebecca at Manderley, Lilja is threatened by the ever-present ghost of a girl online, the titular red-haired Magma - the object of her lover's desire, lust and undivided attention.
'Magma' is the story of a 20-year-old college girl named Lilja and her descent into a dark void to which she is inevitably drawn and can't resist until she falls. Until she has reached the end of this dark crevice and she has broken and shattered her very being.
The novella starts with Lilja's heady, whirlwind romance with a man she meets online while travelling in Central America
(whose age we don't get & he has crazy unimaginable fetishes) which quickly turns into a manipulative, co-dependent relationship in which she loses her identity, her dignity, her life and herself and from which she is unable to come out.
The short chapters read like fragmented diary entries by Lilja tracking her psychotic breakdown as we bear witness to her nagging suspicions of her lover's infidelity, her growing jealousy, her resentment, her overlooking the warning signs and disregarding the gaslighting, her denial in thinking she can somehow 'fix' him. Lilja feels lust, love, jealousy, obsession, anger, humiliation, rage, disappointment, denial, erasure and in the end a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness or so we are told. The author has painted a brutally raw picture of the twisted cycle of emotional & psychological dependency on the abuser to the point where Lilja is capable of seeing & acknowledging the gaslighting, the subtle violence and who he truly is but can't will herself to come out of that abuse. For Lilja, the abuse and the manipulation is the normality that defines the dynamic of her relationship.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Rape, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Body shaming, and Vomit
A girl struggling with an extremely abusive and toxic relationship. She loses her identity, her dignity, her life and herself in this relationship from which she is unable to come out.