Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Chlorine

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Chlorine by Jade Song

61 reviews

mariafordon's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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_sappho_wannabe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was so intense and horrifying in the perfect way. If you liked Our Wives Under the Sea you would like this.
Would be 5 stars if I could see myself rereading but I don’t.

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nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Chlorine by Jade Song is a story of transformation in more ways than one. It's a coming-of-age tale, tracking Ren Yu's emerging obsession with competitive swimming, her body's inconvenient changes, her attraction to her best friend, the clumsy, casual racism of her friends and teammates, and the sometimes racialized attentions of lecherous men and boys

It's also a deeply unsettling story of how a girl makes herself into a mermaid by pure force of will

And Ren is not your typical mermaid

She's part reverse-Ariel, rejecting love on land for freedom in the water. And she's part Shakesperean Ophelia, though she would tell you that whether the ending of Hamlet is tragic or happy is a matter of perspective

She is equal parts delusion and determination, and at every stage of the book, I wanted to swoop in and protect her from herself and the world around her

This was a wild read for me because the world around her is the same world I grew up in. Specifically: the book is set in my gray, rainy hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I was a competitive swimmer from age 7 to 14. Unlike Ren, I quit in high school because, as the book makes abundantly clear: competitive swimming is brutal, time consuming, and if your heart isn't in it, it fucking sucks. Still, the world of over-tight swimsuits, full-body shaving, and brutal workouts was a familiar one

I could see myself on both sides of Ren's codependent friendship with her white best friend (and sometimes love interest) Cathy.

Like Cathy (and probably every single suburban white girl I know), I know I've made some thoughtlessly racist or othering comments to friends of color over the years. Part of growing up is being periodically foolish and hurtful, especially to those we care about and would otherwise like to protect. Cathy loves Ren and hurts her anyway. By the end of the story, Cathy may have changed for the better, but she's still oblivious to some of the inadvertent harm she's caused, and that feels...authentic. Learning to recognize small, generally inadvertent acts of racism or xenophobia is a lifelong journey. Cathy isn't perfect, and neither am I

Also, like Cathy, I was a chubby, indifferent swimmer who only stuck around as long as I did for the social element. When my friends bailed from swimming to get serious about choir, so did I. But, while it might not be everyone's experience, Song's depiction of high school partying, hormonal stupidity, and male shittiness is just about the closest to my own high school experiences as I've ever read in print

And, like Ren, I know what it's like to have an immigrant mother who doesn't quite fit in with most of the other swim moms and makes not-quite-American food for team parties. Of course, the othering that we experienced as white, western European people, was of a much gentler kind

The horror in this book is twofold

Growing up is a horror. Existing in a human body is a horror. To young girls, especially those without a strong support system, men are a horror

But then there's the horror of Ren's transformation, which is a beautifully crafted grotesquity. It would translate beautifully to film, and I would be too scared to watch that movie

Not every element of this book worked for me (Some of the period metaphors seemed a bit over the top, even as I sit here with my own uterus currently feeling like it's trying to kill me), but if you like:

literary horror

coming-of-age stories

sapphic longing

feminine rage

and stories about immigrant experiences

then you won't want to miss this one.

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

the narrative wasn't cohesive, the writing wasn't my favorite, and the dialogue felt unnatural. i think i wanted more of a revenge story but we didn't really get that.

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minamouse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book was visceral and raw in a way that I was not expecting. And while there is a magical element to the story overall, I found myself wondering if some of these things were actually happening or if they were driven by the MCs very obviously undiagnosed mental illness. This book is a fever dream that I enjoyed immensely.

However, I wouldn't really describe the relationship between Ren and Cathy as romantic. They both have weird obsessions with one another, and by the end of the novel

I was relieved that they parted ways

. Ren is annoyed by Cathy's presence but is also craves her attention. Cathy is in love with the idea of Ren, but it's difficult to tell if she is attracted to her or if she wants to be her.

Other than the oddly placed sapphic subplot I think this novel is wonderful. A solid 4.25 out of 5 ⭐. Looking forward to seeing what this author comes out with next!

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ems_bean's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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aliclare's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Magical realism

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cryptidstar's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so goood! as a queer ex swimmer also obsessed with mermaids (to a less intense degree) I was super excited to read this book and it didn’t disappoint. I feel like even though

sewing your legs together and ultimately escaping into the water to be a real life mermaid

is most definitely unhinged, it’s also the kind of unhinged that I think really represents the feeling of being a high achieving, mentally ill, queer high schooler. My least favorite part of the book was Ren and Cathy’s relationship simply because Ren clearly didn’t actually care for Cathy. I wish Ess was in the story for longer, but then again I also think smoking more weed might have made changed Ren’s trajectory a little too much.

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jcnfia's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

OH MY GOD. Thank you for your time.

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Chlorine is a hauntingly twisted coming of age tale about a girl obsessed with mermaids and professional swimming. Ren is such a compelling character and the sapphic romance is bittersweet and enthralling. I honestly could not put this book down even during some of the most gruesome scenes in the story. I loved the sports centric plot and loved reading about a strong, athletic, female character slowly losing her touch with reality. The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is because the ending fell flat for me, I can see why it ends the way it does and it fits the story but personally it was not to my liking. If you’re looking for a weird, slow burn horror with a strong female lead I highly recommend Chlorine. This book was so disturbing to me, I’ll be haunted by for it months…

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