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gabriellejane's review against another edition
- 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
lavenderzoey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape and Mental illness
samarakroeger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I think fans of Conversations With Friends would eat this up (including me)
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Thóra tells Lilja's story using short diary-like chapters which gives the reader an insight into the tortuous events Lilja experiences daily. I think this format worked beautifully for this piece as it really allowed us into the mind of Lilja & how she was experiencing & interpreting the situation. People often look in at abusive relationships & pontificate the age old line "Why doesn't she leave?". Thóra's brutal showing of Lilja's inner thought's answers that quite quickly. We see her mental health & any scrap of belief in herself be completely obliterated until the point where she believes it's all her fault & she sees no alternative, besides making herself 'better'. This evoked some strong emotions as I really just wanted Lilja to be able to see her own self worth & to be able to escape this torment.
This book does not apologise for being raw & brutal in its telling of Lilja's story. With unflinching honesty Hjörleifsdóttir shows the deep effects of gaslighting & domestic abuse. The format of the chapters along with Thóra's beautiful yet tense prose had me holding my breath at many points. I couldn’t bear to put it down & finished in one sitting.
Unfortunately, when some authors write victims of abuse they can portray them in an almost naive & weak manner but I loved that Hjörleifsdóttir portrays Lilja as a strong, beautiful & intelligent young woman who has succumbed to a torrent of abuse.
Thóra Hjörleifsdóttir has tackled the rampant pandemic issue of domestic abuse with a raw & brutal yet beautiful & considerate touch & shines a light on the fact that there are so many more Lilja's sitting out there in desperation, isolation & silence.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
raniaa's review against another edition
- 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
slowreaderlmao's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Self harm
Moderate: Rape
klizzie333'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
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.lianne_rooney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child abuse
ashleyann's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Physical abuse and Rape
Minor: Abortion and Fatphobia