"He's peeled me like an onion. Surrounded by the leavings of my own sallow skin, I've dwindled to nothing, and my eyes smart". Well, this book was a kick in the guts.

Depiction of an abusive relationship in modern-day Iceland, "Magma" tells us the story of 20-year-old Lilja, who is also our narrator, a girl so familiar she could be any of us, fooled and enthralled by an older, much more educated man. He is the kind of man that has been in academia for the whole of his life, the kind of man that casually quotes Derrida and hangs out only with intellectuals and strict vegetarians. He is also a serial cheater, a manipulator and a narcissist.

Our narrator is completely and utterly infatuated with him, so much that she dismisses all the red flags, all the slut shaming and the emotional abuse, all of her girlfriends urging her to break up with him, all the actual cheating and betrayal, just to be with him, to try and let her own self go, the fragments of an even more tragic and violent past disappear, by clinging onto him.

With short, entry-like chapters and powerful, poetic prose, Þóra Hjörleifsdóttir paints an honest, realistic portrait of emotionally abusive relationships, one that hits too close to home for most of us girls out there, and of a harrowing descent into depression, that will linger on me for a long time to come.

Short but impactful read. A descent into an abusive relationship, the young protagonist blaming herself for the boyfriend's behavior.
Powerful, raw, well written.

This book is about a woman's journey to depression while dealing with an abusive relationship. In such a short book, with vignettes about Lilja's life and her musings about it, we get to know and to care a lot about her. And that is entirely due to the writing of this author.
It's such a sad and maddening experience to go through with the protagonist when she can see the problematic relatioship that she is in, but simply cannot break free.
I just didn't like the ending that much; I felt it somehow weakened the narrative that was being told.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

A young woman documents her descent into an abusive relationship through short, diary- like entries.

While a very quick read (I'm tempted to say this was more of a short story), I thought the writing really was very beautifully apt. There were parts that, for me, were simply sublime. It's a thorough depiction of the mind of a young woman, spiraling into a complete lack of self love.

I'm just not so sure about the ending.

I have conflicting feelings on this book. The writing was compelling and the themes explored surrounded an abusive relationship, which was dark and complex, but the format of the book wasn’t my personal favorite. It’s told in little vignettes, each no longer than a page, but I would’ve preferred to see more exploration of certain topics. I think it would have made more sense for the themes to be more deeply explored as we go further into the story, but we were just skimming the surface throughout the entirety of the book and it felt slightly meandering to me because of that.

A novella-length read that’s all the more unsettling and destabilizing for the ease and speed with which it can be consumed. At times I felt I was reading myself—and, perhaps. everywoman—exposed; at others, that the narrator was utterly alien to me, and unknown. The author achieves a raw and organic, yet skillful intimacy through prose marked by a sort of anonymity and distance.

I would like to thank the publisher of Magma for providing me for an Advanced Reader Copy through NetGalley.

TW: depression, suicide, emotional abuse

I was captivated immediately by the synopsis of this book. It sounded so similar to my story. I can't wait to get a copy of this book when it gets published.

I didn't expect to love it so much. It was a short read but the content was powerful and relatable. A young girl Lilja tells us the story of her relationship with this beautiful, smart, hurt man. We don't know his name because his name is not important, it could be any guy.
Lilja falls madly in love with him. Her infatuation and admiration towards him grow by the day.
What starts as a passionate love slowly change. The man is showing signs of emotional abuse towards Lilja, gaslighting her, criticizing her (" He gets irritated... if I put on make up..... ), manipulating her (I don't need to wear lipstick for him; he thinks my bare lips are perfectly kissable) , hurting her by being unfaithful, forcing her to be someone who she isn't, making her question her worth as a lover and as a human being (" I've dwindled to nothing").
Lijla remains blind to the abuse, doing her best to save him, to heal the wounds from his past with all the love she has received from her own family ("...that I almost want to have him, to be his mommy, to start anew and take care of him. He went through so much when he was a kid that can't be taken back"),
She slowly loses herself to depression ( " I want to sleep for a hundred years. I want to forget myself"). She is struggling to love herself and take care of herself as she has become emotionally exhausted and drained ("My parents taught me that patience, empathy, and hard work were key to a happy life. If I treated people with kindness, everything would turn out fine. But now I find that I've become emotionally bankrupt....)

This story too real to me. It was emotionally taxing for me to keep reading it as I saw myself in Lilja's actions. There is a glimpse of hope in the end. I believe this is an important read for all women. It could be a wake-up call to get out of a toxic or abusive relationship. I got out of my abusive relationship relatively fast. If I had stayed longer, I could easily see my life unfolding in a quite similar way. This is one of the powers of literature, to be there for us when we lack the strength or the skills to be there for ourselves.

I was drawn in by the stunning cover but was sorely disappointed by this book.

To be fair, the prose is beautiful at times. The author a published poet and her background shines through in places in this book. The book moves quickly, told in little vignettes.

According to the jacket copy, the author sets out to explore “undercurrents of violence that so often go undetected in relationships” but doesn’t provide any justification. She details this terrible relationship for the reader but doesn't do much exploring. The 20-year-old protagonist is in an abusive relationship with an unnamed man; she is completely obsessed with him for no reason. Look, I understand codependent relationships. I understand why a woman would stay with someone who treats her like shit. I see enough of that in real life, I didn't need an entire (albeit short) book on it. Or, at the very least, I needed some kind of redemption. Some kind of change, one way or another. Some kind of arc. Some kind of growth.

Nothing happens in this book! And I read literary fiction, so I'm okay with "nothing happening." But seriously, nothing happens. The characters were awful all the way through. Everyone was so unlikeable--and I like unlikeable characters! But these characters had absolutely no saving graces. It was a reporting of an abusive relationship with no story.

Perhaps I'm not the ideal reader for this book. I need character growth, I need a complete story. This was a snapshot of the lives of this terrible relationship. And the ending was infuriating!

CW: graphic depictions of sex/sex acts, cutting/suicidal ideations

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the digital copy!

To be honest, what first drew me was the beautiful cover. Little did I know that I was going to like the content as well.
This was a fast, yet not an easy read : I read the book in one sitting but I'm sure I won't forget it as fast as I read it.

We follow the love story of Lilja, a 20 years old university student and "him" as he's not named...

The chapters are very short (one page or less), but who needs a lot of words for abuse ?

It's fascinating how a story told in just a few words made me ache... Lilja, like most people in abusive relationships, tends to rationalise the behaviour of her partner, and as a reader I felt like a silent witness...


This read reminded me, in a way, of one my 2020's favorite: My Dark Vanessa.

Highly recommend.
The book comes out July 13th! Save the date!

Magma is a fascinating literary character study with explosive prose. The detail and acumen of this author is impressive, and the story is richly exploratory.

Lilja is in love and is caught up in an abusive relationship. She is young, naive, and is living in denial.

It was a difficult read, but an excellent one anyway. First, it was the cover that grabbed my attention. Then, it was the writing that immediately sucked me in, and I couldn't put it down. I read this in one day, almost in one sitting. It made me want to read more from European and especially Icelandic writers.

Thanks to the publisher for letting me read this in advance. All opinions are my own.

It seems to me that there is something unique about the literature created in northern countries, such as Iceland. Its atmosphere and a certain cold harshness make it uncomfortable, and I like it.
Magma is very sharp story about a girl who falls in love with the wrong guy. She is so desperate to be loved that she does not want to allow herself to think that the way her boyfriend treats her is almost pathological. Day after day, the girl becomes more and more immersed in a toxic relationship full of pain and lack of understanding. Those who have never been in a toxic or unhappy relationship will probably not be able to identify themselves with the protagonist, but if at least once you have been feeling miserable, you will be able to find yourself in this story. Due to the fragmentary structure of this book, it is impossible to put it away, and its sharpness stick in mind and cannot be forgotten.

⭐3.5 Ahhh that gorgeous cover! Stars⭐

This book -about the length of a short story- is about a woman's descent in depression.

I found the blurb a little inaccurate as it says it's about the woman being slowly broken by her manipulative boyfriend.
Sure the guy was a prick, openly cheating and neglecting her, but he was like that from the beginning of their relationship, yet she was obsessed with him for no reason that was ever explained.

I found the story engaging, saddening and I loved the ending.

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖 𝙥𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙤. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙤, 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮. 𝙄𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘙𝘊

Lilja is young and deeply insecure. When she goes to college she falls in love with a also young man and they start a violent and abusive relationship. We witness Lilja transformation into the ideal victim: she denies, she justifies and blames herself.
Finally, mired in depression, she thinks she finds the solution to so much darkness.
The novella is narrated from the pov of the victim. Is it worth it? Always, because being heard is to be seen. We as readers don't know exactly in what context this occurs Is it a diary? Is it a confidence that occurs in the context of a psycho therapy? We don't know. What we do know though is that is a request for help and that we are there for her.
Short and powerful book. I can't wait to see how the chapters will be divided once is published..

I can't believe my own luck for finding a novel that literally screams "me." I was smitten with the gorgeous cover but the book itself could have been written just for me. Magma is an absolutely stunning short novel about a young woman, Lilja, who falls in love for real for the first time. Her boyfriend is simply perfect, caring and intellectual, so that they move together fast - but the reality of how he treats her is far from perfect.

This book deals with infatuation, covert abuse, domestic abuse, pornification, manipulation, gaslighting, identity, emotional dependency and more.

Magma was powerful to me. I was Lilja not so long ago, and although our situations were quite different, I, too fell hard for a master manipulator. It was a tough book to get through for this reason, but I was mesmerized throughout.

In addition, the writing is simply wonderful. Niche and must-read.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a difficult read for me as the main character Lilja deals with a dysfunctional relationship where she attempts to rationalize how horribly she is being treated by her partner.
The book did hold my attention and I read it in one sitting, but it has painful to witness the characters downward spiral into depression. The ending is abrupt.

“Magma” by Thora Hjorleifsdottir, is a novella about a young woman in an abusive relationship with a man at college. The story is told from Lilja’s point of view, almost like diary entries.
The story becomes more and more disturbing as she’s gradually consumed by her dysfunctional relationship.
It was a page turner even though it was disturbing. The end was ambiguous.

First off, the cover is exceptional.
Now to the actual review.
Wow.
This was tough.
It was all about an abusive relationship and how Lilja was sucked into it. I think her rationale will be relatable to a lot of women (or people in general). Ignoring red flags, manipulation, gaslighting. It’s easy to see from the outside, but when you’re in it, and apart of it, it’s easily justifiable. She starts to question herself and her emotions and it was hard to read.
But I do think this read can be powerful to a lot of people. Whether you’ve been apart of a relationship like this yourself, or having seen one from the outside, I think a lot of this will ring true.
It really is a commentary on relationships, albeit often a sad one.
If you enjoyed My Dark Vanessa, I think this is a book you would also enjoy.

Magma was a compelling tale that I read in a single sitting. The relationship between Lilja and her boyfriend is clearly abusive, yet she cannot see that herself and justifies everything that happens as being her own fault. This is a powerful work despite its outward simplicity and highlights how easy it is for a violent relationship to continue unchecked. Hjörleifsdóttir doesn't shy away from harsh reality in her portrayal of her characters, and as such this is a work some readers may want to approach with caution. Overall, though, she delivers a strong and important message through her story, which is a scathing commentary as much as it is a work of fiction.

In this short novella, narrator Lilja tells the story of how she ended up in an abusive relationship - and what's makes the text so effective is that the guy she submits to is basically made of red flags, but as Lilja employs very common female rationalizations to explain to herself why it's all not his fault, the text still rings very true, making the reader ponder how such outright insane behavior can still feel plausible - what does that say about our society, about all of us? Yes, the story gives us a key event that is one source of Lilja's self-betrayal, but what's at play here are more general manipulative techniques like gaslighting and emotional blackmail as well as female tendencies to please others, to show understanding, to compete against other women, to make it short: this is partly about toxic femininity.

Lilja grows emotionally dependent, she starts to believe that her sexual and social boundaries are somehow wrong - and she gives them up, with harrowing consequences. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about the book-loving vegetarian she first deems to be prince charming, and from very early on, it becomes clear that he is a cruel manipulator who avoids accountability - and Lilja knows it too, but she can't find the strength to act upon it, as she is successfully shaken in her belief that her opinions and emotions are valid.

Hjörleifsdóttir's debut is a shocking pageturner that shouldn't ring true, but does - and that's the sad core of a story that is well worth telling. The book can be discussed in the context of First Love and In the Dream House, and I can't wait to read what this exciting new voice comes up with next.