Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Chlorine

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Chlorine by Jade Song

86 reviews

biobeetle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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natlren'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

For me, Chlorine was almost a perfect book. It explored themes of girlhood and obsession and bodily autonomy SO well, all against a backdrop of competitive high school swimming. I must gives props where props are due: I never imagined myself getting so invested in a story about a teenage athlete but alas. Ren's descent into madness was masterfully done and there were so many instances in this novel that I felt pure rage on her behalf.

Chlorine is a heavy novel though, and while I might have had a good time (though good, in this context, is not entirely accurate, just the best word for the sentence lol) reading it, it is undeniably heavy. I think that it's definitely one of those stories that will be polarizing among readers, but it really, really worked for me.

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tacochelle's review against another edition

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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.

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