Magma

  ‘'An attractive man like me can't be with a girl who's slept with so many creeps.''
A narcissistic parasite. A psychotic pervert. A psychological and physical abuser, son to another one of that stinky gang. Lilja. Her friends. His own mother. Every woman. He thwarts the very existence of a woman who desperately wants to be loved by a worm in human form. A woman who has been brainwashed to submission and obedience.
‘'He's peeled me like an onion. Surrounded by the leaving of my sallow skin, I've dwindled to nothing, and my eyes smart.''
Manipulative and evil. The sort of man who knows how to exploit a woman's love for him only to tear her down piece by piece. The steps are familiar. He makes you withdraw from your parents, your friends, your own life until you become utterly dependant, an easy victim. You sacrifice yourself over nothing. An absolute nothing. Why? I cannot understand it but many women can. There are millions of women like Lilja in our world. Books like Magma give voice to their lives and raise awareness that there isn't just darkness and nothing else beyond it. But you need to find the will to escape. 
Lilja is a brilliant woman. She knows the world, she has travelled, she has learned through experience and communication. And yet, she hands over herself to the sacrifice. All because of a stupid notion of ‘love' and a monster that someone should have wiped away from the face of the Earth. 
Written in characteristic Icelandic simplicity and poignancy, Magma is extremely raw, honest, brave and emotionally demanding. I never use trigger warnings, I don't see the point. After all, we're all adults and people of the world. Hiding from life by pressing the ‘'MUTE'' button isn't going to solve the problems we face. But I can tell you that this is a book for brave readers. 
Every woman should read this novel. Now.
Beautifully translated by Meg Matich.
‘'If I were better, then I'd be enough.''
Many thanks to Grove Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
 

It's so short! But poignant

Short, brutal examination of abuse and self-harm. Fantastic writing but stomach-turning.

Gods, I'm reading some real doozies. Trigger warning here for emotional abuse, rape, gaslighting, cutting, and just general entitled white male assholery.

Lilja is seeing a man she's never able to straight-up call her boyfriend. He's awful and cheats on her, coerces her into sexual positions she doesn't want, convinces her she's nuts, isolates her, is rude to her friends and family, wakes her up with sex, and is a colossally horrible person. This reads like poetic prose, and you can tell it's a novel written by a poet. Not my favorite style for a novel, but this felt so very realistic that I feel like the author has lived this. It's heartbreaking and ire-inducing. There is a small glimmer of hope at the end. A tiny one. But it's not great.

A haunting portrait of domestic abuse. This novel doesn't spare the reader of the hideous dynamic and I appreciated it for that.