Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Chlorine by Jade Song

16 reviews

nightlight_reader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

Incredible, horrifying, the living embodiment of “oh no” and “what the fuck” and “oh god”. Absolutely check your trigger warnings and then buckle up.

I learned so much about swimming culture in a way I wasn’t expecting and how that seems to cause almost a type of dysmorphia of what Ren’s body should be instead of what it was. The opening chapter hits so hard that it was hard to understand what all else was coming next and how it would be delivered to the reader, but this was incredible.

The only thing that kinda didn’t hit for me was Cathy’s portions, I guess? I can kinda see what they’re adding, but she wasn’t a character who I related to very much and so it was hard to sink into her perspective when Ren was just so much more interesting, but it’s a minor qualm at best. I wonder if I went back and read those sections now, knowing the end, if that would help contextualize them more?


This is the kind of writing that should be taught in schools, like it should be an option on reading course book lists for those with an iron stomach. It feels like a book that should be explored in a book club amongst safe friends to talk about all of the trauma Ren suffered and her escape from it.
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amdas's review against another edition

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5.0

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pookiee's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

3.25

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nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Chlorine by Jade Song is a story of transformation in more ways than one. It's a coming-of-age tale, tracking Ren Yu's emerging obsession with competitive swimming, her body's inconvenient changes, her attraction to her best friend, the clumsy, casual racism of her friends and teammates, and the sometimes racialized attentions of lecherous men and boys

It's also a deeply unsettling story of how a girl makes herself into a mermaid by pure force of will

And Ren is not your typical mermaid

She's part reverse-Ariel, rejecting love on land for freedom in the water. And she's part Shakesperean Ophelia, though she would tell you that whether the ending of Hamlet is tragic or happy is a matter of perspective

She is equal parts delusion and determination, and at every stage of the book, I wanted to swoop in and protect her from herself and the world around her

This was a wild read for me because the world around her is the same world I grew up in. Specifically: the book is set in my gray, rainy hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I was a competitive swimmer from age 7 to 14. Unlike Ren, I quit in high school because, as the book makes abundantly clear: competitive swimming is brutal, time consuming, and if your heart isn't in it, it fucking sucks. Still, the world of over-tight swimsuits, full-body shaving, and brutal workouts was a familiar one

I could see myself on both sides of Ren's codependent friendship with her white best friend (and sometimes love interest) Cathy.

Like Cathy (and probably every single suburban white girl I know), I know I've made some thoughtlessly racist or othering comments to friends of color over the years. Part of growing up is being periodically foolish and hurtful, especially to those we care about and would otherwise like to protect. Cathy loves Ren and hurts her anyway. By the end of the story, Cathy may have changed for the better, but she's still oblivious to some of the inadvertent harm she's caused, and that feels...authentic. Learning to recognize small, generally inadvertent acts of racism or xenophobia is a lifelong journey. Cathy isn't perfect, and neither am I

Also, like Cathy, I was a chubby, indifferent swimmer who only stuck around as long as I did for the social element. When my friends bailed from swimming to get serious about choir, so did I. But, while it might not be everyone's experience, Song's depiction of high school partying, hormonal stupidity, and male shittiness is just about the closest to my own high school experiences as I've ever read in print

And, like Ren, I know what it's like to have an immigrant mother who doesn't quite fit in with most of the other swim moms and makes not-quite-American food for team parties. Of course, the othering that we experienced as white, western European people, was of a much gentler kind

The horror in this book is twofold

Growing up is a horror. Existing in a human body is a horror. To young girls, especially those without a strong support system, men are a horror

But then there's the horror of Ren's transformation, which is a beautifully crafted grotesquity. It would translate beautifully to film, and I would be too scared to watch that movie

Not every element of this book worked for me (Some of the period metaphors seemed a bit over the top, even as I sit here with my own uterus currently feeling like it's trying to kill me), but if you like:

literary horror
coming-of-age stories
sapphic longing
feminine rage
and stories about immigrant experiences

then you won't want to miss this one.
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annoyedhumanoid'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? 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.
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herelieshenry's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-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

2.25

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pryingblackbird's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book was brutal, and a little more gritty than I usually like, but Ren’s brain was a fascinating, sometimes relatable place to be for almost 300 pages. 

at the beginning, I couldn’t tell if Ren had truly become a mermaid or if she was just leaning heavily into imaginative, metaphorical language (or was completely delusional), but Cathy’s letters made it clearer that she truly did transcend humanity. I liked that it felt a bit ambiguous, but did like the confirmation before things got too nebulous. 

I can’t put my finger on why this is a 4.5 instead of a 5, but it is. a good read, but not quite favorites shelf-worthy. 
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bethgold530's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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macyplier's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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!!
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