Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Chlorine

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Chlorine by Jade Song

18 reviews

archaicrobin's review against another edition

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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embargo's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

It can be hard to strike a balance when dealing with body-horror to keep the story grounded. I think Song does a pretty phenomenal job of balancing reality and the fantastic here. There's some real "horror-of-the-mundane" in the early parts of the book with her descriptions of injuries and periods and the like, which keeps the eventual ending from feeling too out of left field.

This is definitely a horror novel that relies on the tension of the inevitable. It's pretty obvious where everything is heading, but the buildup is done methodically. The pay off feels natural in a way I wouldn't have thought would be possible if just describing the premise of the book. It feels less like a "how could they?", where the horror is directed at the MC and more of a "well of course", where the horror is directed at the culture that has led her to this moment. It's upsetting, but it doesn't feel like a sideshow, which is often my issue with body horror.

If you're the type of horror reader who likes to dissect the themes and symbolism more than you like the scares, this might be one to check out.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Rape, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Okay, a lot of CWs on this one. In order to give info without spoiling too broadly, I'll split the spoilers into a few groups: Violence and Gore, Mental Health, and Sex Violence and Gore, major spoiler for end of the book:

The ultimate horror of the book is the MC, who longs to be a mermaid, eventually self mutilates by cutting off bits of her legs and sewing them together. This is described fairly in depth. There are also other scenes where things are very graphically described in a way that conflates them with violence, even if they aren't typically seen as "violent", such as the MCs first period being described in a graphic manner. There are some sports or accident related injuries also described quite graphically.

Mental Health:

The over all plot of the book is about a young woman's coming of age in a way that shows that even things that may be deemed typical/normal are, (for the MC as well as many irl women) intensely traumatic. She is neglected by her parents. She and other teens are emotionally and physically abused by her coach. She is at times bullied by others. She has one close friend, and their relationship is unhealthy in about 2 dozen ways. There's a heaping helping of gaslighting from pretty much everyone. There is a lot of medical trauma, as well as drug abuse (primarily of ottc pain killers) and disordered eating (primarily restriction). The ending of the book could very easily be read as a metaphor for suicide. It is not explicitly stated as such, but (and here's the big spoiler, so last chance to dip if you care about that) she ends up sewing her legs into a tail. She is hospitalized, with those around her unable to understand her motivations or desire to "keep her tail". She eventually convinces her friend/love interest to help her break out of the hospital and "release her" into the river. You can read this as a fantastical story, but at the same time, it is very easy to read "becoming a mermaid" as a stand in for committing, especially within the cultural contexts provided by the mermaid myths listed throughout the book. The book is deeply sympathetic towards the MCs desire to become a mermaid. To me, it read very much as still a horror, and another way that the MC was let down by literally everyone around her until she had no options that were acceptable left to her. But ymmv, and it is emotionally intense, so if that's not something you're in the right headspace for, be aware.

Sex:

The MC's coach is pretty explicitly grooming her. It is unclear how far he is/was planning on going with it, but it's pretty textbook grooming. She is raped by a team mate at a party. The MC prevaricates on if it actually "counts" as rape, but in my opinion, it is done in such a way to make it clear to the reader that yes, it is rape, and the fact that she herself doubts her own assault is playing into the themes of societal breakdown/failure when dealing with young girls. The MC is sapphic. As a bisexual woman, I would say that she is a lesbian experiencing comphet, but at the very least she experiences attraction primarily towards women but does not feel she can act on it. There are some moments of dubious consent between the MC and her best friend- generally comes across as two repressed girls trying to take whatever they can get out of homosocial interactions, but some moments could be seen as sexually exploitative.

littlelynn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-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

5.0

Reading this as an ex-competitive swimmer was intense in the best and worst ways possible. I won’t forget it, I’ve never been more enthralled by something awful, no horror has ever made me recoil like a certain section in this book did. This book is going to live rent free in my head forever.

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lettuce_reads's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring tense 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

Picked it up not knowing what to expect, and finished it the same night because I couldn't put it down. A slow burn that's not slow-paced. The build up to the scene had me in knots, I don't know how else to describe it. The whole experience has left me in some kind of mildly disturbed, ecstatic awe. I'm going to have book-hangover for at least a week.

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maecaitlin's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.25

A stunning ballad to perfectionism. Song’s debut novel is beyond impressive. The character of Ren Yu is fascinating as Song does an excellent job of exploring the deep ocean of girlhood. The mermaid identity is a rejection of the weighty expectations placed on Ren - getting into an Ivy League college, maintaining her virginity, pushing down her queerness. Song is empathetic towards these struggles, and it shrines through the book.

As a psychological horror, the setting of a small suburban town creeps in throughout. Ren’s transformation is deeply disturbing. I have certainly never thought about mermaids as a horror device before this. Song is extremely original and I look forward to whatever she writes next.

The only area of development I would like to see is more introspection. Song does a solid job in describing the mixed emotions of experiencing an assault, yet this nuance is not consistent throughout her prose. Many of the male characters are one-note and fall flat as antagonists. Ren and Cathy’s relationship is inconsistent in a way that could be purposeful. However, this inconsistency makes the ending lose weight as a sense of mutual desire and connection is never felt between the two.

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hanz's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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ra22ouille's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I really liked this book, and I found it pretty difficult to read content wise. The narration felt really visceral all the time and was super gripping, and I think the quality of their narration really added to how distressing the content was.

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lordslag's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Truly an insane (good) debut Super Awesome and Wonderful and I can’t wait to re-read and cry some more. The writing style was so engaging for me so Trust!!!! I will be picking up everything else this author releases, so happy I finally read this and if you are thinking about it Please please read!!

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tejanafeminist's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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themadsonlibrary's review against another edition

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4.0

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