★ 03/17/2023
DEBUT In this unnerving and poignant coming-of-age tale, fans of the sapphic longing of Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth or the razor sharp, surreal storytelling of The Pisces by Melissa Broder will be captivated by a young woman desperate to escape her reality for her destiny. Ren Yu has dreamed of being a mermaid since she was young. Not a mermaid of Disney movies, but one of ancient lore. One who lures and devours men. As she grows, Ren tells her transformational story as a reflection on her youth: growing and living as a human amongst humans, watching her father move back to China, leaving Ren and her mother in the home they all shared in Pennsylvania, finding what she believes is safety and real achievement in swimming, and finding nourishment in chlorine. Through clever turns of phrase and statements that pack a punch, readers are shown who Ren is rather than told, compelled forward, perhaps nervous about what is ahead but unable to look away. VERDICT Like the scent of chlorine on one's skin, this not-to-be-missed debut novel lingers.—Emily Vinci
2023-01-25
Part body horror, part science fiction, part queer teenage romance, Song’s debut novel dives into the deep end of bodily and psychological metamorphosis—but it’s not for the faint of heart.
When Ren Yu was 4 years old, her mother gave her a book of mermaid folklore, and she was immediately obsessed. Years later, when she tries out for the high school swim team, she knows instantly that the water is where she belongs, and she begins a quest to seek the “same sense of isolated grandeur” she first experienced plunging into the pool. Driven by the pressure of her demanding and sometimes creepy coach, Jim, as well as her own compulsion to win whatever the cost, Ren finds herself pushing further and further toward her physical and psychological limits. Meanwhile, she must also navigate the complications of teenage sex and romance and the complexities of her Chinese American identity. After a disappointing result at a swim meet, Ren is determined to take control of her destiny, making a shocking choice that will alter her life irrevocably. Alternating between a third-person narrative and letters written to Ren from her best friend (and perhaps more than friend) Cathy, a "blue-eyed white girl," Song’s form- and genre-blending book opens a brilliant portal into the sometimes-agonizing processes of coming-of-age and training as an elite athlete. Song is at her best when writing about the elaborate and sometimes agonizing experience of coming into one’s own power; one scene is so chillingly and effectively rendered it is difficult not to judge the rest of the novel by that standard. In comparison, the rest of the book, especially those parts that deal with teen drama, sometimes feel lackluster in comparison.
A striking portrayal of teenage transformation with a David Lynchian twist (plus mermaids!)
“Song’s harrowing novel subverts the standards of merfolk lore — clamshell bras, underwater kingdoms, the love of a sailor or prince.” — New York Times Book Review
“Ren Yu is a fierce young woman who’s dreamed of mermaids ever since she can remember—dreams so vivid that the first touch of water in a swimming pool alters her life forever, sending her down a path that’s both beautiful and frightening. Chlorine isn’t just a coming of age story. It’s the tale of transformation from human to something wilder and more transcendent. It’s about love and longing and the willingness to do anything to become who you truly are.” — Richard Kadrey, New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series
“Ms. Song is good on the growing pains of young adulthood…[This is] a book that enlivens its coming-of-age yarn with a touch of mystery and a twist of myth.” — The Economist
“Like the scent of chlorine on one’s skin, this not-to-be-missed debut novel lingers.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“A notable debut that marks a distinctive career to watch.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Chlorine is not for the faint of heart. Fierce and visceral, it seethes with rage and pain and the urgency of transformation. There are no pretty mermaids wearing seashell bras here, but readers open to sinking into darker waters will be captivated.” — Ann Claycomb, author of the forthcoming Silenced
"This book was viscerally unnerving and I could not put it down." — Sarah Gailey, author of The Echo Wife
"In Song’s disturbing and visionary debut, a child pushed too hard to succeed becomes a monster of her own making… The body horror is striking, as is Song’s prose, in which she riffs on the various ways the team members are “mutilated” (“We mutilated our beauty, though this sense of beauty was an outdated version defined by narrow wrists and bird bones”). It’s a singular coming-of-age.” — Publishers Weekly
“This fantastically strange, explosive debut novel entrances even as it unsettles. It’s so brilliantly written.” — Buzzfeed
“A visceral and startling debut novel by Jade Song, Chlorine is a portrait of ambition, defiance and longing set in the world of competitive swimming… Song invites readers to enter into Ren's obsessions not with judgment or disgust, but with an understanding that is surprisingly tender in the face of the novel's abrasion.” — Shelf Awareness
“…Chlorine is an exceptionally strong debut. It’s shocking and tender, fantastical and intimate, gorgeous and grotesque. After reading “Chlorine,” readers will not only forget everything they know about mermaids — they may never look at a mermaid the same way again.” — The Harvard Crimson
“With their debut novel, Song presents a beautiful and horrific coming-of-age story about the power of transcendence to become who you truly are.” — This is Horror
"...a tender story of a lonely outcast girl who just wanted to transcend into a body which reveled in power not pain.” — The Fantasy Hive
“[A] powerful debut novel” — Locus Magazine
“Transformation, whether supernatural or not, is often riddled with loss and difficulty, and Jade Song boldly refuses to let us forget that.” — Xtra Magazine
“Chlorine not just a single work but a dialogue between many different works.” — The Boston Globe
