Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Chlorine

Truly an insane (good) debut Super Awesome and Wonderful and I can’t wait to re-read and cry some more. The writing style was so engaging for me so Trust!!!! I will be picking up everything else this author releases, so happy I finally read this and if you are thinking about it Please please read!!

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

phdyke's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

americattt's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

“Never mind the book teaching me that 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 be mine.
I dreamt myths larger than my girl body could hold.”

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seawarrior's review against another edition

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5.0

Chlorine is a brutal, brilliant coming-of-age tale of a young woman determined to carve herself the destiny she aches for. Ren Yu tells her narrative with a distanced, combative air. She is uninterested in the reader's sympathy or judgement, her story belongs solely to her, and she knows it. I was quickly drawn to Ren's defiant and tenacious nature. She refuses to be anyone other than herself, even when deemed disturbed and mutilated by those she once trusted. Song perfectly captures the weight of pain in adolescence and the impossible, frenzied want to transcend human perils and emerge triumphant. This is a grisly, unparalleled gem of a story.

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