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pauliana93's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Homophobia, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
mariaminthebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Stating the obvious, the book flows like a river. The writing's great, descriptions' great yada yada yada...
Finished the book in 3 days. That says enough.
Now, the interesting stuff...
I found the main character insufferable, which is absolutely fine, characters do NOT have to be likeable, but Mellors tried SO hard to make her likeable by mentioning just how likeable she is (how convenient) which made me dislike her even more.
TW//
The book also features PRETTY heavy themes like alcoholism, drug abuse, animal cruelty, su!cide, self-h@rm, and the list goes on....without ever really diving into the complexity and complications of each struggle, thereby making the character's problems seem shallow (they are not!!!)
Along with having like a bazillion unnecessary characters, this, too, was unnecessary. Towards the end of the book, it felt as if Mellors was just throwing in as much trauma as she possibly can for that shocker effect. Unfortunately, that had a counter effect. It made me desensitised to much of the events in the novel.
traumatised characters ≠ unconditional sympathy
I've read books with way fewer events going on but had a much deeper attachment to the characters.
Frustratingly, this could have been such a good book....
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
tom_om's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
lidia7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
love the writing style
a lot of TWs, sorry if i forgot some
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Medical content
makeno's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol
dexlud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Cleopatra and Frankenstein is a book whose narrative changes as the story goes on. LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD FOR STRUCTURE -
For people who would like to read this, be warned that there is a lot of drug use and sex throughout this book, and some topics that some people may dislike or be triggered by!
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
beriboo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment
mrs_gale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I kept waiting to read about the way that Cleo and Frank's relationship actually impacted their friends, but it never did!
It's just a variety of characters that somewhat link to Cleo and Frank, with a bunch of additional characters while mentioning a huge number of topics without exploring them much. The characters don't do much except drink and drugs.
The number of characters is huge, some are only mentioned briefly. I did not care for a single one, not even the main characters. They had no redeeming qualities, just really immature and self-absorbed and not developed well.
Shocked to discover it took 7 years to write! I did not enjoy this book, I cannot recommend it.
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, and Death of parent
babsi_222's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Soooo many ts songs reminded me of this book!!!
Deeply flawed characters and toxic relationships. Everyone struggles.
I Never liked Cleo and Frank‘s Relationship (i don’t like the age gap) and I don’t like them both that much. I like Cleo sometimes too, she can be relatable. The chapters are quite long but that didn’t bother me very much- the usual POV‘S are Cleo and Frank but you got like 1-2 chapters in the POV of Zoe, Eleanor, Quentin and Santiago
The two chapters that were Eleanor‘s POV i didn’t like, I don’t know why there were that many small paragraphs with stuff I don’t care about. Her and Frank‘s relationship was something I also never liked. A lot of things were predictable in this book but there were also plottwists so it’s fine if.
Quentin is very strange and I was always a bit scared of him tbh because he’s just so uncomfortable. I kneeew that Alex was bad for him tbh (I thought it was cute in the beginning in Quentin‘s POV but then in the other people‘s POV i saw the problematic)
I loveee Zoe. I think she was my fav person in the book. I could sympathies with her (more in the end not so much in the beginning) Santiago is I think the only unproblematic character in the book. I love him and I’m sooo happy for how his life‘s like now.
My fav scene is the one where Audrey, Cleo and Zoe spend time together (p 82- 91) especially the part when they went home to Cleo‘s (i think) ❤️❤️❤️
Cleo:
+ an artist
+ a feminist that puts people in their place
+ „ you want credit for not leaving me? Are you joking? Sorry Frank, but you married me…“ (p261)
+ she has a smooth way of feeling and she feels so much
- she complained about her pain when they had THAT fight but didn’t care about Frank‘s pin at all
- in general made some poor ass arguments in that fight
- „Could it be? Are we back here again? At Frank pity party?“ (p261) HUGE L
- compared her trauma to Frank‘s 💀
- had an affair
Frank:
+ changed for the better!
+ cares about Eleanor
+ finally cried in the end
+ supported Cleo financially
+ super rich but then not too cocky
- a man
- killed their pet that they loved and lied about it
- bought an illegal pet
- had an affair
- gave his sister money all the time
- alcoholic for the most time of this book
Zoe:
+ has her struggles but powerful
+ sweet and kind
+ the whole thing with Jiro :))
+ the way she connected w Cleo
+ idk but her sexual struggles make her so much more sympathetic
+ the scene were she layers on the ground next to Cleo (p 312) ❤️❤️
- asking her brother for money all the time
- doesn’t know how to spend money
„The parties, Sex, alcohol and drug use is so New York City aesthetic“…. Girl wtf no it’s literally not.
„ everyone we know in NY is an addict, aren’t they?“ (p355) lol yeah they are. The way drugs are used in the book is sooooo bad holy shit especially like Quentin and Alex and stuff but actually they all.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
desireewoodwhite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexism, and Death of parent