Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Chlorine

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Chlorine by Jade Song

11 reviews

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.0

Content Warnings

kaiyakaiyo's review

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was brutal, and a little more gritty than I usually like, but Ren’s brain was a fascinating, sometimes relatable place to be for almost 300 pages.

at the beginning, I couldn’t tell if Ren had truly become a mermaid or if she was just leaning heavily into imaginative, metaphorical language (or was completely delusional), but Cathy’s letters made it clearer that she truly did transcend humanity. I liked that it felt a bit ambiguous, but did like the confirmation before things got too nebulous.

I can’t put my finger on why this is a 4.5 instead of a 5, but it is. a good read, but not quite favorites shelf-worthy.

Content Warnings

bethgold530's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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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!!

Content Warnings

chughes5's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

ouijabroad's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed this one which I’m thankful for because I’ve had several let downs recently.

I read this in about a day because I couldn’t put it down! The writing is beautiful and as a child who never wanted to leave the water and longed to be a mermaid so badly I connected with Ren on some level (not to the extreme she went to of course). I remember hopping around with my legs crisscrossed at the ankles in my elemntary school classroom and being enamored with the mermaids in the cartoon of Peter Pan.

The telling of a coming of age tale that didn’t fall into tropes and cis-heteronormativity was refreshing.

My only real “complaint”, and I’m using that term loosely because as I said I loved this, I don’t know if I would call this book a horror book; there’s really only one visceral scene and the rest, while unsettling (or maybe not depending on if you believe Ren’s ideas about herself) is mostly a coming of age story mixed with a fairy tale…then again, growing up a girl is pretty horrible. The descriptions of how Jim is with the young girls made me seethe and cringe as someone who has experienced this kind of behavior by many men I’ve come into contact with at a young age. It seems universal. I did find a lot of truth in Song’s writing even if Ren and I experienced very different childhoods.

Normally ambiguous endings annoy me but I was satisfied with this one. Then I keep thinking is it ambiguous though?! I think it’s up to the reader and some context clues to decide that.

Again I really loved this even though it strayed pretty far out of my chosen horror genre. Looking forward to reading more of Jade Song’s work in the future!

Content Warnings

another_dahlia's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

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kamitsukasero's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

This is a fever dream of a book that blends the real-world with transformative magic. This novel reads like the memoir filled with growing up with a working mom, a dad in a different country, and a sport to fill the gaps.

Ren, our narrator, is now a mermaid. She is looking back on her transformation from swimmer who thirsts for water and chlorine to her leaving her family and friends for a life in the water as a mermaid. It is achingly beautifully written. As a former competitive swimmer, it resonated with me.

I could taste the chlorinated air, hear the sets calling out, and feel my muscles moving as I read the text. I also appreciated the perspective on her childhood sapphic crush.

I struggled reading about the creepy coach. I hate, hate, hate adults in power who do everything up to physically abusing kids.

I hated that they didn't catch that she was hiding her head injury and her sexual assault. I also hated coach Jim touching her and pressing her to swim above everything else.

Ren's narration felt very real and very alien to me. It highlighted how different her brain works as a mermaid and maybe how much she needed to transform.

At its heart, this book is about transformation and growing up and leaving relationships and worlds behind to be who you are meant to become. It's about the pressures to shape your body and yourself into something you are not until you realize you have to break free. It's a very worth-while read.

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