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In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies... a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life. But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Ones that called sailors to their doom. Ones that dragged them down and drowned them. Ones that feasted on their flesh. Ones of the creature that she's always longed to become: mermaid. Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine--the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.
This book is for the body horror babes, and I felt so embraced by it! Was it gruesome and graphic, as some say? Yes! Was it still a hypnotic and compelling sapphic horror story? Yes, in my opinion, it was. Definitely not for the faint of heart or even some more low-level body horror fans, Chlorine exists for the sickos, and I'm so happy it does.
If this wasn't an audiobook I would have DNF'd by now, because honestly wth his happening. Every character is unlikeable - I have a high tolerance for unlikeable characters and often find it makes things more interesting, but this is next level. Cathy is pathetic, Ren is heartless and flat, and the men are awful caricatures of toxic masculinity. If there's a message in here somewhere, I've yet to find it.
As much as I love the mermaid themes here… the gruesome and lengthy descriptions of tampon insertion are wild. Like, I get this is body horror but this isn’t setting a horror tone at all?? Seems just gratuitous. Hoping all this weaves back into the story somehow
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uh … didn’t think it was possible for a book to be too weird for me yet here we are. Interesting premise and themes but everything was so overdone - author was going for absurdist, borderline satire horror, but sadly it did not land. If you’re looking for something quick with shock factor, this could be the strange novel for you