Magma ★★★★☆

Magma (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★☆

Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir is a fiction book about a woman in a domestic violence relationship.

I checked this book out from the library.

Lilja is enamored with her new boyfriend and quickly becomes obsessive towards the idea of being the perfect partner. Despite this, the boyfriend remains stand offish, sleeping with other girls and giving Lijla flippant attention. When he does give her attention, it is manipulative and degrading, causing Lilja to feel worse and worse about herself, losing sight of her beliefs, her self-esteem, and she begins cutting herself to relieve the pain. Over time the situation continues to escalate until Lilja feels she is left without any other options.

Told in short, one page chapters, this book reads like snippets of a nightmare steadily worsening. Readers witness Lilja's plunge into deeper and darker depression but are unable to change the outcome. Set in Iceland, this book does a magnificent job of portraying the slow and steady way that abuse and manipulation can overtake a person.

If you liked Magma, I also recommend In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin, Rose Madder by Stephen King, and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata.

Happy reading,

Ms.Bjork