Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Chlorine by Jade Song

35 reviews

letterpress's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think I am still trying to get my mind around what I just read. So I am giving it 4 stars, I think? 

At the start of this book you meet Ren Yu, a girl that born for the water. It starts with a love for mermaids and joining the swim team, it then slowly evolves into something else. This is a coming of age story that deals with tons of problems and pressures of being a teenage girl, both physically and mentally. 

This book doesn’t have tons of dialogue but that could be by design Ren is so obsessed and driven she doesn’t really need anyone else. Even though she does have a best friend in Cathy who she tolerates best among everyone. As you read it is very easy to get deeper up into her all in mentality and slow entry into reality of becoming a mermaid. 

Another really good novel by a debut author! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pixie_d's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sidekicksam's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Ren Yu is coming of age against the sharp chemicals of chlorine in the pool water. A tale of obsession, competitive sport, adolescence, racism, misogyny and friendship/love, this was a wild ride of an audiobook to listen to. Gory and a bit grotesque, I felt the book explored the harrowing conditions of the human experience and the need to escape it beautifully. Not necessarily horrific but more harrowing, this was exactly the kind of weird story I was hoping it would be! 

Lovers of books like The Pisces, Bunny and The Vegetarian will definitely love this one!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

oywiththepoodles's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jcnfia's review

Go to review page

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. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark fast-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? Yes

2.25

I’m kind of conflicted on what to make of this book. I think the author is very talented, but this book could have used stronger line editing; in particular, I noticed some ineffective repetition (for example, there’s a relatively short sentence at one point containing the phrase “next to me” twice) and moments where descriptions feel a bit overwritten. The raw, visceral quality of description in this book could be heightened and made more significant if they were trimmed up to be less dense and more specific. Stylistic consistency in the way translation is handled in-text would also be beneficial. A lot of the issues in the writing itself are common and somewhat forgivable in debuts, and the technical errors makes me think the author wasn’t given adequate resources for feedback and editing before publishing.

Giving us more of a basis to why
Cathy is so deeply in love with Ren
would make their relationship dynamic feel a lot more powerful:
we see that she’s in love with Ren, and we know why Ren keeps her around, but we aren’t really shown how Cathy gets to that point
. I can definitely relate to the candid portrayal of being a walking, talking cry for help and no one noticing, which is something I think is emphasized about
Ren in hindsight throughout Cathy’s letters
. I think it would have been more effective if there was more of a portrayal of escalation
for Ren leading up to the big “transformation”, more things showing her willingness to sacrifice her own well-being for success/freedom building up, getting more concerning, and going unnoticed over time
. 

While this book didn’t totally hit for me, I’m interested in seeing what Jade Song writes next. A lot of the themes at play are things I’m interested in reading about, and the writing shows promise—I just was not the target audience for certain aspects of this book, particularly the coming of age/high school aspect. There were definitely elements in this book that did speak to my own teenage experience, I.E. distrust for doctors and the extremely painful periods, and while I was far from a high school athlete, I’ve seen the effects of the high-pressure environment meeting mental health struggles and physical overexertion in people I know who were. Ultimately, this was definitely the right choice of audiobook to listen to while I was left up all night having insomnia from contraction-level cramps. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lexiesophocli's review

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

felt a lot like ‘our wives under the sea’ in that the mystical element was very confusing, despite the rest of the story being an interesting read. I was waiting for a deeper dive (pardon the pun) into the characters and their motivations but it never came - all in all, this book felt a bit shallow (wow two for two on the wordplay) and lazy for what could’ve been an incredible read! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

clovetra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

fuck. that was beautiful. this is easily *the best* book i’ve ever read. not just of 2024, but i think in my life. i actually kind of want to cry now that ive finished it. i also want to cry because of how beautiful it was. i want to cry because i relate to and understand ren so well. i want to cry because jade song’s writing style is orgasmic. i want to cry because this book had all my favourite features - body horror, sapphic romance, perfectionist main character who strives to be the best, mature themes, mixing reality with fantasy and science fiction. this book was pure bliss, and i don’t think i possess the capacity to explain the perfection of this story.
even though this book came out only in 2023, i await patiently yet enthusiastically for jade song’s next book.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thepharmdreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

If you like mermaids and unhinged girls this book is for you 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tacochelle's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny fast-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

4.0

I love me some weird girl coming of age stories. Taking a story about finding your identity and making it so physical and visceral. Ren is an interesting narrator, I feel for her journey, especially how her discovering her true self runs parallel to a queer awakening of sorts. Her voice is also very decidedly that of a teenager. She's dramatic in her declarations, in a way that reminds me of friends I had in high school. I've seen some criticism of it in other reviews, but it feels believable to me. But I also  was in the sort of friend group where one could claim to be half-vampire, go on about what everyone gets wrong about her kind, and no one would bat an eye. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings