Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

43 reviews

aleilvandrea's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

annemarijequartel's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

It read away very easy, but the characters and their relationships lacked depth. Too many character POV’s with too little description of how they became the way they are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

moonbeamdmercutio's review

I was pushing my way through the audiobook. Wonderful narration but I can not stand the story, writing, characters, etc. Just used it as white noise while going about my day without an issue until the story strayed from Cleo and Frank (yknow, the titular characters) and started focusing on the stereotypical gay guy who apparently only cares about fashion and sex. Could ignore the downright terrible depiction of gay men until the author decides to throw in an unnecessary "orgy" scene? Couldn't get through two minutes of it. Corny writing. Bad characters. Offensive. Cannot imagine myself ever enjoying this book, in audio or physical format. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

huge age gap (approximately 20 or more years)

ilolijiniie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

aestinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

4.25

I'm slightly biased on my review because this story really hit home for me. It was too painful for me to even pick it up again after a year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

katieanne01's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Deportation

mariaminthebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

I'm torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars. Let's settle for 3.5/5 

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....

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

arieli's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Self harm