This is a very bizarre read. It’s part memoir, part research paper, part self-discovery, part creative writing experiment. The author goes on a self-discovery journey after she divorces her husband and “transforms” into a clam. The book dives into the evolution of clams, and every other mollusk, every shell, how clams/shells are represented in art, in history, including a study from Darwin on shells. No wonder it took the author 8 years to complete this book. The path of research bounces from one topic to another, giving the reader a variety of research material in varying depths. Somehow, this research is to discover not only about herself but about her relationship with her parents, especially her father who created a super-secret accounting software called Shell Computing. Only in the final chapter, does the author really bring all the research together to understand the relationship between herself and her father.

A delightful interpretation of a memoir. The author becomes a clam after the breakup of her marriage. She becomes increasingly aware of and interested in shells as she tries to heal.

I loved the opening chapters and the author’s creativity throughout. I was not as compelled by the chapters told from her father’s point of view though I understood why they were included. Would recommend this to anyone interested in experimental stories or reimagining of a traditional memoir style.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This was one of the books that RO Kwon listed in her annual list of books written by WOC. I loved the description of it, and ever since I saw the title I have been telling people to "Clam down," since it seems to make more sense than "Calm down," especially when people are upset. The author takes this advice literally when her mother texts her to Clam Down and she becomes obsessed with clams and other mollusks in her years long journey to find clam, or possibly, calm.

I really liked this book, and fell into reading it right away, even though it wasn't what I was expecting. From the description I assumed that the story would be very reminiscent of Kafka, but the author really leans into the actual metaphor of a clam — patient, accepting, letting come what may, and embracing the good and bad sides of these qualities. As the author/clam in question delve deeper into their clam-ness they also confront their parent's histories with their own clam journeys, and what that means for their futures. The first part of the book was very intriguing, the following sections less so, but I ultimately liked the story. And of course I'm a sucker for any book that partly takes place in Northern New Mexico.

“Clam Down” is a truly unique mix of countless literary genres, blending memoir, fiction, and fantasy into an introspective tale. Author Anelise Chen writes primarily from a second person perspective, centering on a protagonist known as “the clam” - a name taken from the accidental misspelling from her mother telling her to “clam down” over the course of her life.

Facing a turning point in her mid-thirties, the clam faces an unexpected divorce and simultaneously decides to change career paths to pursue being a writer. What follows is a non-linear storyline as we follow the clam over the course of her life, dive deep into her musings and memories, and also see her life from the perspective of her father, a former programmer who fails her understand his daughter and her life choices.

There are bursts of genius in this book, especially with the many literary and historical references throughout (to Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, Darwin’s “Origin of Species”, even Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings) and Chen’s exploration of her father’s past. I loved as well the inclusion of various photographs and scans, the nods to their Chinese heritage and language, and even the (sometimes confusing) screenshots from an old-school Linux computer. However, the writing felt too scattered for my personal liking and there are a number of sections that went on lengthy tangents that didn’t seem to contribute to the actual storyline. While I appreciated the both literal and figurative evolution and metamorphosis of “the clam” to her present-day human form, I think a little more editing and focus would have been beneficial.

"Clam Down" is one of those books that's hard to categorize—in the best way. Anelise Chen blends memoir, research, and personal reflection into a thoughtful exploration of solitude, transformation, and identity, all through the unexpected metaphor of a clam. Some sections, especially those diving deep (sometimes really deep) into mollusk history, felt like they took over the personal narrative, and I found myself wanting more of Chen’s reflections on her own journey. That said, the parts about her family—especially her father’s retreat into his own shell—were incredibly moving. It’s a unique, sometimes meandering, but ultimately fascinating read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/One World for the ARC!

If I had not read Emily Habeck’s “Shark Heart” or the aquatic erotica of “The Pisces,” I might have enjoyed this more or found it more original, but there seems to be a trend of looking at ways of blending or morphing into other species so it did not strike me as wholly original. Instead of fiction, this is a hybrid memoir about the writer’s personal crisis when her marriage implodes, grappling what it means to retreat into her shell, and what a literal interpretation of that looks like. The book includes other types of reclusive people alongside the author’s own life. I also would have preferred more of the author’s thoughts on her journey over mollusk details, but for readers who did not grow up next to the ocean, that might prove more compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/One World for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. In this memoir, the author goes through a personal crisis when her marriage breaks down, and she decides to explore what it means to close in on oneself or to hide. The theory is that when we cannot speak we "clam up" and then when we are in a different place we come out of our shells. In this memoir, we get a history of sorts of other recluse-type people, which was interesting, but because this is a memoir we also get the history of the author and I appreciated that readers were allowed into this personal element of the author's experiences. Like with all good thinking, delving into the past, analyzing and learning from it, allowed the author to then process the current state. I personally enjoyed how non-fiction and fiction were blended within this book, it lent the reader multiple layers to uncover and was a fresh take on this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/One World for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the most creative and inventive books I have read in a long time. It is difficult to categorize because it's not quite memoir or autofiction but it reads like a novel, or like experimental creative nonfiction.

I thought it would be a typical sad divorce narrative about how a woman's marriage unraveled and she found her voice on her own. But strangely, the ex-husband hardly factored into the narrative at all, as I never figured out why they got divorced beyond growing apart, nor much of the author's processing of her feelings; it was more of the author coming to terms with who she was as a person and a daughter and no longer a wife. It had very Eat Pray Love vibes in a way if that book was written by a 30-something introverted Taiwanese-American nerd.

According to her author notes, the author got the idea for the book after writing a column about mollusks and reflecting on all the ways she has hid from the world even during her childhood and marriage. She projects a metaphor of her post-divorce life as a clam protecting itself, afraid of the world, and the book then reads like a neurospicy ADHD hyperfixation deep dive into everything about the mollusk. The "clam down" of the title is based on her mother's texts to her, misinterpreting the translation of the word "calm."

The book then covers a lot of ground. Not only in history, going into Darwin and Georgia O'Keefe's paintings of mollusks during her separation from her husband, but also science, as she travels back in time to imagine the history of the invasive Asian clam and immigrant stories and fears, or climate change at the Oregon coast. It perhaps tried to do too much and while at first I was charmed by her hyperfixation because I love it when nerds do this, at times I wondered how it all tied together and got a little bored.

Then where the book really shone is when she decides to interview her own family about her own clam origin story. Her father, a perpetual loner with severe social anxiety, abandoned the family to immerse himself in his project designing accounting security software, which he named Shell Computing. The best parts of the book are when she navigates his complicated love for her through his personal history and learns to find compassion for him as an adult and not a child. I wish we'd gotten a bit more of this personal dimension as opposed to the interesting facts about mollusks, which could often seem tangential.

Overall I really loved this book and thought the author's writing style was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was seeing her world through her eyes more clearly by the metaphor of the third person clam.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A unique work of auto-fiction - I preferred Chen's previous book, So Many Olympic Exertions, but enjoyed this one as well

Anelise Chen’s Clam Down is a wondrously unusual memoir that blurs the line between nonfiction and fiction, offering a deeply introspective yet humorous exploration of retreat, transformation, and reemergence. After her divorce, the narrator undergoes an unexpected metamorphosis—not into the infamous Kafkaesque cockroach, but into a clam. This transformation, sparked by a text typo from her mother telling her to "clam down," leads her to examine what it truly means to withdraw from the world and whether isolation is a necessary step toward healing or simply a barrier to overcome. Through a mix of personal reflection, research, and an unconventional storytelling structure, Chen weaves together themes of solitude, family, and interspecies kinship in a way that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant.

As someone who struggles to stay engaged with traditional nonfiction, I found Clam Down to be the perfect bridge. It reads like a novel while delivering the depth and insight of memoir and research. The sections were captivating, from the revelation of the narrator’s mother as secretly fun and open, to the deep dives into mollusk history and human parallels. One of the more unexpected elements—the interviews with “Asian clams”—initially felt bizarre, but as I read on, I realized they mirrored real-life interviews with Chinese immigrants from the 1800s and 1900s, adding a layer of historical weight to the book.

Beyond the unique structure, I loved the fascinating tidbits scattered throughout—Darwin’s connection to mollusks, Georgia O’Keeffe’s shellfish line, and more. The narrator’s father’s storyline, however, left me both intrigued and slightly puzzled. Did he write his own sections? Were they written in his voice based on interviews? Or were they entirely reconstructed by the narrator? Regardless, I found myself unexpectedly rooting for him, even more than anyone else in the book—a rare shift for me, as I usually champion the women in a narrative. His Shell Company’s icons and his retreat into work were oddly compelling, making his eventual “emergence” all the more satisfying.

In the end, Clam Down is completely unique, witty, and genre-bending. It challenges the way we think about memoir, storytelling, and even our own instincts to close ourselves off or open back up. I’m grateful to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- One World for the advanced copy and for the opportunity to experience such an inventive and thought-provoking book.