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A review by moonytoast
Chlorine by Jade Song
dark
emotional
fast-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
4.5
Thank you so much to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!
Chorine is a searing, deranged coming-of-age story and an apt depiction of the horrors at the intersection of girlhood and competitive athletics. It's wild and unapologetically, viscerally raw. The story follows Ren Yu, a young girl obsessed with water and the mythology of mermaids who–under the devastating weight of competitive swimming–devises to shed her human form and transform into her true self: a mermaid. Her ascension into her true self is a brilliant vision of body horror.
There’s such a depth and complexity to Ren Yu that the narrative style captures and lures the reader in like a siren… I started reading this book and it’s so easy to fall into the story and completely forget a world exists outside of the one Jade Song constructs. Ren's first person narration is interjected throughout with literal messages-in-a-bottle from Cathy, Ren's friend and fellow swim team member, further detailing the relationship between the two of them and providing more insight into the timeline leading up to Ren’s grand transformation. Song's prose is strikingly evocative and one of my favorite aspects of this book. (Don't ask me how many whole paragraphs I have highlighted on my e-ARC.)
There something twisted yet beautiful about the ending—Ren Yu achieves her escape into the water and finds the home she has always desired, but at a cost. In that sense, it’s almost reminiscent of traditional mermaid folklore where the ending is not always entirely happy.
In conclusion: GIVE! ME! MORE! DERANGED! COMING-OF-AGE! TEEN! GIRL! NARRATIVES!
Chorine is a searing, deranged coming-of-age story and an apt depiction of the horrors at the intersection of girlhood and competitive athletics. It's wild and unapologetically, viscerally raw. The story follows Ren Yu, a young girl obsessed with water and the mythology of mermaids who–under the devastating weight of competitive swimming–devises to shed her human form and transform into her true self: a mermaid. Her ascension into her true self is a brilliant vision of body horror.
There’s such a depth and complexity to Ren Yu that the narrative style captures and lures the reader in like a siren… I started reading this book and it’s so easy to fall into the story and completely forget a world exists outside of the one Jade Song constructs. Ren's first person narration is interjected throughout with literal messages-in-a-bottle from Cathy, Ren's friend and fellow swim team member, further detailing the relationship between the two of them and providing more insight into the timeline leading up to Ren’s grand transformation. Song's prose is strikingly evocative and one of my favorite aspects of this book. (Don't ask me how many whole paragraphs I have highlighted on my e-ARC.)
There something twisted yet beautiful about the ending—Ren Yu achieves her escape into the water and finds the home she has always desired, but at a cost. In that sense, it’s almost reminiscent of traditional mermaid folklore where the ending is not always entirely happy.
In conclusion: GIVE! ME! MORE! DERANGED! COMING-OF-AGE! TEEN! GIRL! NARRATIVES!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship