Book Review: "Chlorine" by Jade Song

“They were both heavier than I remembered, as if their sadness had materialized into solid weights onto their shoulders, but it is true that what humans call intergenerational trauma has always been heavy, sinking to the gloomy abyss of repressed memory to be mined for so-called wisdom later. I was newly aware my parents were people who carried their burdens on their bodies rather than within themselves—this was my doomed inheritance.”

- Chlorine by Jade Song

I have my kindle out again and mainly because there are so many good books on for 99p at the moment that I am in the midst of investigating all the ones I want to read before they go back up to full price. Jade Song's 'Chlorine' was one of these and from the outset of the premise, I knew there was going to be some folklore involved because of the huge themes of mermaids and dark creatures of the sea. I also felt like this book was going to be a lot more heartwrenching than the cover might suggest. I'd like to apologise to all book cover designers when I say: never judge a book by its cover. So, without further introduction, let's investigate what made this book such a striking read.

At the beginning of this book we are introduced to the first person narrator called Ren Yu. When she was younger, her parents provided her with stories about mermaids and sea creatures. Eventually, this led to her wanting to be able to swim. Initially, her mother wanted her to play the piano for time management purposes she had read about, but ended up taking her child to what she desperately wanted to do.

As Ren Yu began swimming, she started to feel a strange affinity to the act of swimming. She starts to find a connection with the water in which she herself is not even a human being anymore. Within various parts of this swimming and training under the brutal coach named Jim, we get letters from Ren's best friend, Cathy - who seems to be writing into the ether, suggesting it is a one-way conversation since Ren 'disappeared'. How, where and why are only some of the questions that the reader is asking in this moment. But what is sure as the book moves on is that Ren does not seem to be growing up as a normal teenager - she has an unhealthy obsession with the idea of mermaids.

As she keeps swimming, she starts to compete but always falls slightly short of the expectations of her coach. She begins dating, she begins growing and she begins experiencing the horrific reality of being a woman. None of these things are pleasant for her and yet, she still wants to swim. She seems to be drawn to it even more so than before. She starts to do things that could be considered as destructive, and yet she always gets back to her best friend and she always gets back to the sea.

Eventually, we see a lot of changes happen quickly. It is like a splicing of images from when Ren Yu was a young girl obsessed with mermaids, folklore and swimming to a young woman who is now about to stop at nothing to get what she wants. And we definitely mean 'nothing'. It is a harrowing climax that leads to a conclusion with an incredible catharsis. I recommend paying extra attention to this part.

The writing in this book is evocative and feels almost like the reader themselves is immersed in the drowning of it. It washes over us in a fashion that is like learning about a new friend. Ren Yu starts out as this young flower by chapter two, a woman looking back on her life who is not really all a woman at all. We get to know her quirks, her wants and her needs. Once we hit that twisted ending, we are more shocked than we are surprised and ultimately, there is a feeling of relief. The author pens this character-centric narrative almost perfectly and the back-and-forth dialogues blended with these atmospheres of dreams vs reality controls the pace of the novel well.

All in all, this is a light read with some heavy themes. I enjoyed it for its tone which felt almost like a young adult novel, but is definitely not written for a teenager. This novel is a beautiful, twisted coming-of-age book which deals with an extended metaphor that represents the way ageing really works at that age: slowly and then all at once. It is vital that the author presented this to us as a difficult process, something where the character has to come to terms with themselves and something that is misunderstood for so long. It is a wonderful new novel.