Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Chlorine by Jade Song

111 reviews

bowelhaus's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.75

This was such a fantastic concept but I don’t think it was executed very well. The body horror was so elegantly done and so horrifying, and I love the concept of girlhood as horror and self-transformation. 
However, all of the characters’ and the way they interacted and spoke fell flat. There were a lot of moments where the way the speaker spoke felt corny or cliche which shocked me since this concept is so unique. I just couldn’t see the through line.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mariafordon's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

gkaltam's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

_sappho_wannabe's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ajiinaaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tifftastic87's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

joensign's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ems_bean's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aliclare's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Magical realism
Expand filter menu Content Warnings