Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Chlorine by Jade Song

41 reviews

culpeppper's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Overall, I really loved this book. I listened to the book, and the two readers they chose for Ren and Cathy's chapters suited the story really well. The story was hard to listen to, at times, with this looming threat of others preying on Ren's psyche that became reality. But I was hooked. Though Ren was definitely a sharp and guarded character, her narration of her life made me ache for her, making the ending of the story so cathartic. The main criticism I have was the pacing felt off at some points, and while it never dragged there were some drawn out parts. But, mostly, I really liked Chlorine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Body horror, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Medical content, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Bullying, Drug use, and Eating disorder

Minor: Vomit and Violence

mariafordon's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body horror, Blood, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Minor: Classism and Drug use

kermittothebook's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming

alliereadsbooks's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

_sappho_wannabe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.75

This book was so intense and horrifying in the perfect way. If you liked Our Wives Under the Sea you would like this.
Would be 5 stars if I could see myself rereading but I don’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Body shaming, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

savviecake's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Medical trauma

nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Chlorine by Jade Song is a story of transformation in more ways than one. It's a coming-of-age tale, tracking Ren Yu's emerging obsession with competitive swimming, her body's inconvenient changes, her attraction to her best friend, the clumsy, casual racism of her friends and teammates, and the sometimes racialized attentions of lecherous men and boys

It's also a deeply unsettling story of how a girl makes herself into a mermaid by pure force of will

And Ren is not your typical mermaid

She's part reverse-Ariel, rejecting love on land for freedom in the water. And she's part Shakesperean Ophelia, though she would tell you that whether the ending of Hamlet is tragic or happy is a matter of perspective

She is equal parts delusion and determination, and at every stage of the book, I wanted to swoop in and protect her from herself and the world around her

This was a wild read for me because the world around her is the same world I grew up in. Specifically: the book is set in my gray, rainy hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I was a competitive swimmer from age 7 to 14. Unlike Ren, I quit in high school because, as the book makes abundantly clear: competitive swimming is brutal, time consuming, and if your heart isn't in it, it fucking sucks. Still, the world of over-tight swimsuits, full-body shaving, and brutal workouts was a familiar one

I could see myself on both sides of Ren's codependent friendship with her white best friend (and sometimes love interest) Cathy.

Like Cathy (and probably every single suburban white girl I know), I know I've made some thoughtlessly racist or othering comments to friends of color over the years. Part of growing up is being periodically foolish and hurtful, especially to those we care about and would otherwise like to protect. Cathy loves Ren and hurts her anyway. By the end of the story, Cathy may have changed for the better, but she's still oblivious to some of the inadvertent harm she's caused, and that feels...authentic. Learning to recognize small, generally inadvertent acts of racism or xenophobia is a lifelong journey. Cathy isn't perfect, and neither am I

Also, like Cathy, I was a chubby, indifferent swimmer who only stuck around as long as I did for the social element. When my friends bailed from swimming to get serious about choir, so did I. But, while it might not be everyone's experience, Song's depiction of high school partying, hormonal stupidity, and male shittiness is just about the closest to my own high school experiences as I've ever read in print

And, like Ren, I know what it's like to have an immigrant mother who doesn't quite fit in with most of the other swim moms and makes not-quite-American food for team parties. Of course, the othering that we experienced as white, western European people, was of a much gentler kind

The horror in this book is twofold

Growing up is a horror. Existing in a human body is a horror. To young girls, especially those without a strong support system, men are a horror

But then there's the horror of Ren's transformation, which is a beautifully crafted grotesquity. It would translate beautifully to film, and I would be too scared to watch that movie

Not every element of this book worked for me (Some of the period metaphors seemed a bit over the top, even as I sit here with my own uterus currently feeling like it's trying to kill me), but if you like:

literary horror

coming-of-age stories

sapphic longing

feminine rage

and stories about immigrant experiences

then you won't want to miss this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Medical trauma

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

the narrative wasn't cohesive, the writing wasn't my favorite, and the dialogue felt unnatural. i think i wanted more of a revenge story but we didn't really get that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Pedophilia, Gore, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexual content, Abandonment, Classism, Racism, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Abortion

ems_bean's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Medical content, Self harm, Physical abuse, Blood, Eating disorder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment

jcnfia's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying and Classism