Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Chlorine

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Chlorine by Jade Song

19 reviews

adhesivedolphin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Holy. Shit. I was recommended this book and it's one of the most intense things I've ever read. I wanted to share it with some friends, but this is one of those books that is tailor-made for a specific kind of person. I was lucky enough to be one of those people. I feel like some of the themes of Sorrowland are also at play here. I felt so strongly for Ren and Cathy through the story. This is one of those stories that's hard to talk about without spoiling it. So if you're into sapphic, body and psychological horror and feminist themes, read this!

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teresaelj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

This book is making me think. First of all- it’s an incredibly easy and fast read. Something about it hooks you in. There is a lot going on in the book that I think gets left out with Ren as the narrator ; you know Ren loves Cathy and her parents but you also know her mental illness tells her it is not mermaid like. She battles with horrific things that don’t often get explored when a teenaged female narrator is telling a story; the pain of periods, doctors not believing you, men that are supposed to be trusted taking advantage of that, “boys being boys,” the struggles of being perfect in a world that wants women to be nothing more. It’s beautiful. You can take this literally or not. The book starts literal and then it becomes a fairy tale. A tale of either a girl transforming into a mermaid literally or a girl shedding her trauma or a girl leaving choosing death over the trauma of the world. It’s a fairy tale ending leaving a lot to think about. The letters from Cathy definitely want to lead you into a different director but even then, it makes you wonder what has happened to Cathy since the water? It is a body horror, fairy tale, horror novel. Brilliant, disturbing, and thought provoking.

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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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.

lettuce_reads's review against another edition

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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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henrygravesprince's review against another edition

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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.

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frogggirl2's review against another edition

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challenging 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? No

4.5

I love the main character, the writing, the queer perspectives, and the examination of female friendship that goes beyond friendship. I'm always a fan of people who are fish, or think they are fish or merpeople who want to be human, or merpeople onland, or anything similar. What I had a little trouble with is the idea that she's a mentally ill girl, and she's going to have permanent disability. I don't think that's what I'm supposed to take away from this or that I'm even necessarily right about the conclusion of the book.

From a storytelling perspective, the friend/girlfriend's letters detracted from the depth of the story and its momentum.

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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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sapsquatch's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The expectation for a competitive high school swimmer to succeed. The extremes that Ren took to be what she always wanted to, and all came into play were the bullying, the pressure, and the lack of real support.

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charlie_woodchipper's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

5.0

Wow, this will definitely become a comfort read (Or rather listen, on audible, which was incredibly well done. Especially when Ren screamed near the ending)

Having done 1 year of competitive swimming in high school, and quitting because it was hella toxic, I 100% relate and 100% remember being horrified by the girls whose swimming was there whole life. It was uncanny and unsettling, just like in this book. Boys and men were also forbidden in my school from participating or being coach, because there had been too much sexual violence in the past. Men and boys are really all the same

I related with Ren and Jim ""relationship"", knowing what it's like to fall prey to predatory adult men, feeling valued and special by them

I related to how traumatic putting a tampon on is for the first time. My mother's impatience. How I HAD to do it, because I had swimming practice. How she made me put lub on for it to finally work. I went through the same thing

I related with Cathy's codependency. I had a Ren of my own during childhood all the way to highschool

Being born with OCD from family genes, I related to Ren obsessive and compulsive behaviours

I can't wait to read more from Jade!

Only two things that made no sense to me ; How the team still had a party after Ren made her tail (I'm convinced they would have been WAY too disturbed for that. Secondly, although it was very satisfying, how Luke believed Ren mermaid haunted him. Like Virginie Despentes in King Kong Theory said, very few rapists actually believe that they are rapists. I think Luke, if he were a real boy, would most definitely not picture himself as a rapist for what he did in the shed. Most likely would have convinced himself it was consensual

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