Jade Song

3.5. Really crisp and poetic prose. This story is full of rage and determination but also a very palpable and tragic sense of loneliness and unbelonging. I feel like parts of this were repetitive, but not totally in a way that didn't work. Ren is grappling with so many things in life (an abusive swim coach, feelings for her friend, a constant estrangement) and watching her try and get through these things is heartbreaking at times. The climactic scene was so difficult to read...don't read this book while eating lunch, y'all...
Would recommended to those looking for a book about queer girlhood with a big dose of body horror.… (altro)

Ren Yu, an American-born child of Chinese immigrant parents, finds the place she belongs in the pool as one of the top athletes on her high school swim team. Her life is dedicated to trying to please her strict mother and abusive coach while pushing her body to the limit to shave seconds of her time. At the beginning of the book, Ren declares she's a mermaid, but whether that is a metaphor or if she undergoes a magical transformation is something not immediately explained (the actual story may surprise you!).

The novel is written in first person in Ren's voice detailing her anxieties and the visceral description of her body's suffering whether it be in the pool, the pain of menstruation, or the expectations placed upon it by others. Alternate chapters are written as letters to Ren from Cathy, her best friend on the swim team with whom she shares a mutual, but unspoken, romantic attraction. This debut novel deals with high school as a horror story incorporating the torments of youth sports, racial prejudice, and mental illness.… (altro)