Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

102 reviews

faenth's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

Minor: Death of parent

fernhughes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A gripping and gorgeous read, Coco Mellors’ writing style is beautifully descriptive. As others have said, Frank and Cleo’s actions are irritating and I sometimes found myself gobsmacked — but I believe this is the point of this book. My only complaint is that the wild, substance abusing NYC lifestyle felt unrealistic and fantastical which slightly took away from the otherwise relatable characters.

Spoiler

As I got towards the end I wasn’t sure whether there would be a second ‘plot’ - ultimately, I was glad there wasn’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Blood, Dementia, and Suicidal thoughts

livangel's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Honestly, it’s a very interesting take on every day life. I think it shows how “Cleopatra” and “Frankenstein“ are both monsters and victims.  It shows that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you love each other, sometimes relationships are sometimes bad or toxic. It makes you think about how you view or judge people and reflect on where the problem truly lies. Definitely worth a read. The book does drag on sometimes, but that’s just part of its charm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Blood, Sexual content, Vomit, Suicide, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Physical abuse

booksaremyabode's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Sexual content, Mental illness, Self harm, and Drug abuse

jj_xx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical content, Drug abuse, Blood, Animal death, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

while at times it felt a little long and the characters were a little annoying, it was overall a great read that gripped my heart. it leads you on a journey of two people with so much love for each other, but are dealing with their own demons so intensely that it causes a fissure between them. or maybe they were always doomed from the start. but i guess it follows the question of whether or not a love so deep is worth the immense hurt afterwards. cleo and frank's tumultuous relationship is an overwhelming rollercoaster ride at times. i also didn't really care for eleanor's chapters; i think it either should've been developed more or cut shorter. but man that last chapter alone bumped it up from a 4.25 to 4.5. a very devastating but fitting ending in my opinion that felt like it was written with rainbows and shimmering gold. probably one of the most touching final chapters i've ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, Drug use, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

rachela_7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Blood, Self harm, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

salalander's review against another edition

emotional relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Simpele 5 sterren. Wat een boek! Meer kan ik er niet over zeggen!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

nenya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

this is the kind of book where you can’t really tell that the characters are becoming your comfort characters until you find yourself looking forward to keep reading it because of them. the book is incredibly character driven and provides a very diverse set of nuanced and delicately crafted people who all, in a sense harmonize (or conflict) with one another. cleo and frank, the protagonists are both lovable and also deeply flawed and traumatized, something you and the characters themselves come to understand throughout the course of the book. what i loved most about it was that the narration style gave you insight into every single person’s thoughts and sentiments (or at least of the most important ones) not only through different POVs separated into different chapters, but also sometimes within the span of a paragraph, switching back and forth in revealing each persons internal dialogue. 
the book felt like an anti-romanticizing telltale of several New Yorker lifestyles while also being deeply philosophical and thought provoking 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

nai__reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Blood, Infidelity, Self harm, Drug use, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent