A review by imogenrose97
Chlorine by Jade Song

3.75

 
The writing style of Chlorine was intoxicating and heavily influenced my moods when I put the book down. There were so many beautiful quotes that I saved and each scene was so viscerally satisfying. The storyline depicted the internal monologue of girlhood very well. The loneliness and longing for someone to understand you even when you won't even give them the crumbs to start to piece together what is going on in your head. High school felt exactly that awful. It perfectly depicted how it felt like you were dying if you couldn't do something because you were sick, that missing out on that one thing would be the end of your life. Break apart all the things you felt you had achieved so far. The clique mentality of girls and the othering over any tiny difference was painful and so close to the truth of my own experience. 
I found the letters from Cathy's perspective a little jarring and a tad too easy to move the story along. I would have preferred we got them to start with rather than introducing them at a time that felt right. I loved the lesbian relationship. I felt that Cathy loved Ren for no reason, which is the exact depiction of being so young, of falling in love and surviving on glances to sustain your crush. 
What I loved most was that Ren was not in the end made out as mad. She swam away into the creek and was free as a mermaid with her own kind. I loved this release and would very much enjoy a tidbit of mermaid life and how she feels within it.
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