Reviews

Chlorine by Jade Song

lynzywhimsy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

aliceineverhoood's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

kymayhew's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-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

3.75

peterse1's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.75

mtstellens's review against another edition

4.0

Ren joins the swim team in order to make friends and fit in, she ends up excelling and her life is consumed by swimming hoping that will get her a scholarship and approval from her parents, coach and peers. After struggling her senior year, not being able to improve the way she needs, being disqualified from a race for not keeping in form, and being assaulted at a party. Through the book Ren becomes more and more obsessed with being a mermaid, eventually deciding to sew her legs together to finish her transformation. She is barred from swimming and taken to the hospital where she meets with her parents and refuses to have the stitches taken out. Her friend, who is in love with her, helps take her to a creek she knows and ‘releases’ her. The friend continues to write her letters and send them down the creek telling her that she misses her and remembering their time together.
This was a really well written book, I really liked how lyrical it was. Her talking about the feel of the water and the smell of the chlorine was really good. The book is told in the past tense after Ren has completed her ‘transformation’ which makes it seem like her time as a human is being held at arm's length, the things that we assume would have hurt her (her relationship with food and her parents, her sexual assault) are told in a cold and distant way. The parts that humanize her the most tone wise are the letters from her friend that ate sprinkled throughout, telling stories of their time together (including a funny story about Ren asking for help putting in a tampon). The body horror at the end wasn’t a twist, we could tell it was going to happen, but it was still built to very well and was disturbing. The ending, where Ren actually seems to disappear, really makes us believe she is still out there because of how grounded the rest of the story has been.

biancajay's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

sarahspages's review against another edition

4.0

loved loved loved this!!

anaheeta's review against another edition

The writing style was kinda insufferable and reading reviews confirmed this wouldn’t change throughout the book. 

atsignamy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

vsteffes's review against another edition

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

3.0