It’s a little haunting and heartbreaking. It’s unsettling to relate to some of the aspects, especially Ren’s experience as a queer Chinese person. The characters aren’t particularly likeable, but it works with the story and the circumstances they’re shrouded in. 

 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! 

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC!

This was a stunning debut from Jade Song about the pressures of expectations and claiming your own independence and choices. Ren is a very compelling, obsessive, and delusional character and I was hooked every step of the way. I also really appreciated the content warnings at the beginning (which I recommend reading since this is book leans into horror quite a bit). I will say that this is not a plot driven book and the focus is more on Ren as a character and thus some of the plot events are a bit slower. It's reminiscent of Black Swan, and I highly recommend this book if you enjoyed the movie! Overall, a really strong debut and I'm excited for what Jade Song comes out with next!

Chlorine comes out March 23rd!