A review by alexaisreading
Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir

dark emotional
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Twenty-year-old Icelandic university student Lilja is in love with a manipulative, gaslighting, cheating man— described by Lilja as extremely intelligent and good-looking— who repeatedly crosses her emotional and physical boundaries. He is a vegetarian who finds women who eat meat “repulsive,” and a chronic virtue signaler. Lilja wants nothing but for him to genuinely love her, and he wants someone to f*ck whenever he wants and to use as a scapegoat. Magma chronicles Lilja’s relationship with him in short vignettes with titles like “The Ex I,” “Depression,” and “Willpower I,” but the first-person account feels extremely distant. I’m not sure if this is meant to create a separation between Lilja and her reality, a coping mechanism to help her process what she has been through, but it comes across as sort of inauthentic. 

Magma felt like an oversimplification of both the psychological damage that a highly toxic relationship can do and self-harm/attempted suicide. The ending felt cliché and limiting for Lilja, despite the optimistic tonal shift. There were also a couple of strange comments that seemed homophobic and unnecessary. I liked this book, but I don’t think I’d revisit it.
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