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A review by mabelsyrup
Chlorine by Jade Song
dark
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
4.0
Pain came from remaining human
How do i even tell you about my feelings about this? Chlorine was complicated, dramatic, miserable, sad, bizarre and very queer. what fun i had reading this.
I think my favourite part of this book was the contrast between how dry and cynical it was during Ren's chapters and how melancholy and yearning it was during the few Cathy chapters. It showed the dynamic between them as friends and ultimately how different and incompatible they are, my heart broke so many times when reading how much Cathy loved Ren but her trascendance made her not care about it, living her life free of the expectations of others and how they want her to live her life and how they choose to see her one way despite her changes; even if well intentioned and out of love in the case of her mom and Cathy, was more important.
Ren's backstory really hit home for me; being the outlier of the group, coming from a working family, being put on swimming and other random after school activities bc nobody could take care of me i saw her need to connect and attach to something, anything, to keep her afloat. Her voice throughout the novel was cynical, and slowly became so deliciously deranged! she was saying things that had me giving BIG side eye but in her mind these things are true, she has been a mermaid all throughout her life wether she transformed or not.
The writing of the book is veery stream of consciousness, or at least i think so, and sometimes that was a good thing; Jade Song had some stunning quotes that fr had me blurry eyed, but many other times the narration went on for so long without the break of a dialogue, it made it tiring to read at times (tho i admit its prob a me thing, i have a terribly attention span and this just made more complicated for me to engage for long stretches), sometimes it felt like I was reading a lot but there wasnt much to get from it. But that was literally my only gripe with the story, everything else would've made this an easy 5 star for me.
I went into Chlorine expecting a sapphic grotesque body horror novel and came out with a heartbreaking and disturbing sapphic novel.
"The shadows inside need not be snuffed but treasured- that darkness existed to hide riches from ordinary mortals unable to handle their brilliance, and if I mustered the courage to dive into those veiled depths, these riches could become mine"
"As a mermaid, I now recognize how winning places the self within a construct of hierarchy over the bodies- a false construct. There's no victory when someone else loses."
"What is it called when immigrants reverse, when they wake up from the nightmare masked as a dream?"
"I guess hearts are slippery because they're covered in blood, I wish I could bleed mine dry. Then I'd miss you less"
"I would have been willing to die by crucifixion if you controlled the nail and hammer"
"Every time someone calls my name, a fist clenches over my heart, yearning to hear it from your mouth instead"
"I am alone, A-lone. A-, a prefix meaning "without." I am without you. I miss you"
"it is true that what humans call intergenerational trauma has always been heavy, sinking to the gloomy abyss of repressed memory to be mined for so-called wisdom later. I was newly aware that my parents were people who carried their brudens on their bodies rather than within themselves- this was my doomed inheritance."
"Humans and monsters both understand stories about magic and marvel and myth are made interesting by their stemming from trauma and violence and blood. How can one grow without pain?"
"Our choices showed who and what we love. I had chosen water, mermaid. Cathy had chosen me."
How do i even tell you about my feelings about this? Chlorine was complicated, dramatic, miserable, sad, bizarre and very queer. what fun i had reading this.
I think my favourite part of this book was the contrast between how dry and cynical it was during Ren's chapters and how melancholy and yearning it was during the few Cathy chapters. It showed the dynamic between them as friends and ultimately how different and incompatible they are, my heart broke so many times when reading how much Cathy loved Ren but her trascendance made her not care about it, living her life free of the expectations of others and how they want her to live her life and how they choose to see her one way despite her changes; even if well intentioned and out of love in the case of her mom and Cathy, was more important.
Ren's backstory really hit home for me; being the outlier of the group, coming from a working family, being put on swimming and other random after school activities bc nobody could take care of me i saw her need to connect and attach to something, anything, to keep her afloat. Her voice throughout the novel was cynical, and slowly became so deliciously deranged! she was saying things that had me giving BIG side eye but in her mind these things are true, she has been a mermaid all throughout her life wether she transformed or not.
The writing of the book is veery stream of consciousness, or at least i think so, and sometimes that was a good thing; Jade Song had some stunning quotes that fr had me blurry eyed, but many other times the narration went on for so long without the break of a dialogue, it made it tiring to read at times (tho i admit its prob a me thing, i have a terribly attention span and this just made more complicated for me to engage for long stretches), sometimes it felt like I was reading a lot but there wasnt much to get from it. But that was literally my only gripe with the story, everything else would've made this an easy 5 star for me.
I went into Chlorine expecting a sapphic grotesque body horror novel and came out with a heartbreaking and disturbing sapphic novel.
"The shadows inside need not be snuffed but treasured- that darkness existed to hide riches from ordinary mortals unable to handle their brilliance, and if I mustered the courage to dive into those veiled depths, these riches could become mine"
"As a mermaid, I now recognize how winning places the self within a construct of hierarchy over the bodies- a false construct. There's no victory when someone else loses."
"What is it called when immigrants reverse, when they wake up from the nightmare masked as a dream?"
"I guess hearts are slippery because they're covered in blood, I wish I could bleed mine dry. Then I'd miss you less"
"I would have been willing to die by crucifixion if you controlled the nail and hammer"
"Every time someone calls my name, a fist clenches over my heart, yearning to hear it from your mouth instead"
"I am alone, A-lone. A-, a prefix meaning "without." I am without you. I miss you"
"it is true that what humans call intergenerational trauma has always been heavy, sinking to the gloomy abyss of repressed memory to be mined for so-called wisdom later. I was newly aware that my parents were people who carried their brudens on their bodies rather than within themselves- this was my doomed inheritance."
"Humans and monsters both understand stories about magic and marvel and myth are made interesting by their stemming from trauma and violence and blood. How can one grow without pain?"
"Our choices showed who and what we love. I had chosen water, mermaid. Cathy had chosen me."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Pedophilia