Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Chlorine by Jade Song

14 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Ren is obsessed with two things in life, mermaids and swimming. When a head injury takes her out of the sport and then a disqualification takes away a team victory, Ren starts feeling the pressure to be perfect. To swim like a mermaid, and she plans a final act to reveal at regionals.

I liked this more in concept than in execution. There were a lot of really tense moments that kept me reading, but the pacing was incredibly slow and that made it difficult for me to finish. I like a slow paced dreamy literary horror, but there was something about this one that didn't quite work for me. I wanted a little more out of it. I did really appreciate the conversation the book was having about the pressure on teenage girls, the expectations on those who are not wealthy and how being a first generation child of immigrants can really mess with that. Ren felt incredibly isolated constantly, and that put her in a lot of really awful situations, I felt for her in those moments. I am still unsure about the ending, but I did like some aspects of it. I think the somewhat metaphorical examination of mental health was done really well, but also here I wanted a little more. I think the ending is where it kind of lost a bit of the punch it was going for. 

Spoiler for the ending:

The fact that Cathy helped Ren essentially commit suicide because she felt guilty for not helping her when she was sexually assaulted was a really odd choice. Using that I don't like how the letters from Cathy took up so much space when it was just Cathy continuing to center herself in Ren's story again. I get what it was going for, with the lack of centering Ren in those letters, but I wish something more had been done with it. It was more again of Cathy centering herself in the ending, by being able to spend that time with Ren when she was emotionally vulnerable rather than actually being helpful to her.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Blood, Eating disorder, Body horror, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Addiction, and Abandonment

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.

---

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

---

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

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I think I am still trying to get my mind around what I just read. So I am giving it 4 stars, I think? 

At the start of this book you meet Ren Yu, a girl that born for the water. It starts with a love for mermaids and joining the swim team, it then slowly evolves into something else. This is a coming of age story that deals with tons of problems and pressures of being a teenage girl, both physically and mentally. 

This book doesn’t have tons of dialogue but that could be by design Ren is so obsessed and driven she doesn’t really need anyone else. Even though she does have a best friend in Cathy who she tolerates best among everyone. As you read it is very easy to get deeper up into her all in mentality and slow entry into reality of becoming a mermaid. 

Another really good novel by a debut author! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Body horror, Dysphoria, Bullying, Mental illness, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gore, Body shaming, Drug use, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual content

bibrarian_'s review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abandonment

annuich's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship

aileron's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Dysphoria, Gore, Physical abuse, Body horror, Blood, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Bullying, Eating disorder, Body shaming, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Racism, and Vomit

ouijabroad's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Body shaming, Gore, Blood, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Xenophobia, and Self harm

Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, and Rape

catwhisperer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Dysphoria, Medical content, Racism, and Sexual assault

goatsinspace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Thank you to libro.fm for the ALC! This is my honest review.

This is a horror novel, so you're going to be disturbed. So, enjoyment: 3/5 stars; writing: 5/5. Jade Song is talented. 

This is such a complex and intense book. This is one of those rare authors that are able to find the horror in the mundane. This is a novel about a young competitive swimmer in high school and that's really all I can tell you without sounding like a crazy person. This discusses the harm done to those in extremely competitive sports with a little smattering of other equally important and uncomfortable topics. Important read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, and Abandonment