Magma

May 10, 2021
Lilja, the hapless and hopeful heroine of poet Hjorleifsdottir’s unsettling English-language debut, shares her passions and vulnerabilities with an achingly plausible mix of verve and bluntness. In Reykjavík, Lilja, 20, is blindly devoted to her first serious boyfriend and fails to register the ways he takes her for granted while continuing to see other women. The short, blithely titled chapters read like diary entries and land like snapshots of a young woman stumbling her way into adulthood. (The extent of “Willpower I” reads, “He called, left a message, but I was a Teflon woman—everything slid off me.”) But things soon take a darker turn as Lilja chillingly unfolds an account of a date rape that occurred three years earlier with the same matter-of-fact precision as her thoughts on smoking and descriptions of awkward evenings out. As the boyfriend continues to treat her with indifference, she begins cutting herself. Eventually, the couple move in together, and Lilja cautiously allows herself to feel hopeful for the future. Throughout, Hjorleifsdottir’s fresh prose disturbingly evokes the young woman’s unmoored state. The burnished micro-chapters form a narrative necklace of gems.

June 1, 2021
After Lilja returns to Iceland from her travels in Central America, she starts sleeping with a beautiful and smart young man, falling in love with his wit and quiet personality. He chats constantly with others online, refusing to let her see, and his jealous tendencies cause her to spend less time with her friends and family. Despite the growing toxicity of their relationship, love fuels Lilja's desire to please him, no matter what he asks. Written in short diary entries from Lilja's perspective, Reykjav�k-based poet Hj�rleifsd�ttir's heart-wrenching American debut is a raw and empathetic depiction of a woman so subtly manipulated into an abusive relationship that she loses her sense of self and cannot find a way out. "The very best thing for me would be to end it with him and to stop being such a psycho. But I can't stay away from him for very long. I can't lose him." The short but powerful entries are masterfully written, showcasing how quickly and quietly an abusive relationship can form in the name of love.

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