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A Novel
by Jade Song
In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary dark coming-of-age narrative and an unsettling tale of body horror, told from an adult perspective on the trials 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, in the intense world of competitive swimming, starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is 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 tales of mermaid folklore, of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Creatures that called sailors to their doom. That dragged them down and drowned them. That feasted on their flesh. The creature that she's always longed to become: the mermaid.
And in this gripping psychological horror, Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine, the feel of it on her skin. 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.
"Like the scent of chlorine on one's skin, this not-to-be-missed debut novel lingers." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Song's debut is a strikingly original coming-of-age story...Full of contradictions, magnificently balancing and remarkably sustaining wonder with dread and magical realism with harsh reality, with a heartbreakingly beautiful and intensely uneasy tone, this is a story that will hold readers in its thrall. Ripe for discussion, Chlorine is a great choice for fans of weird, immersive, female-driven body horror by authors like Julia Armfield, Cassandra Khaw, and Carmen Maria Machado." ―Booklist (starred review)
"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on the various ways the team members are "mutilated" ("We mutilated our beauty, though this sense of beauty was an outdated version defined by narrow wrists and bird bones").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
"A notable debut that marks a distinctive career to watch." ―Kirkus Reviews
This information about Chlorine was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jade Song is an artist, filmmaker, and writer whose award-winning debut novel Chlorine was selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice and translated into multiple languages. The Black List selected Song's adapted screenplay of Chlorine for its annual Writers Lab. Song pole dances and lives with too many books.
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