Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

40 reviews

laurataylor's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

supdrar's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ich bin ehrlich etwas überrascht wie sehr ich es mochte. gibt mir A Little Life vibes, nur hetero, mit weniger Gewaltszenen und dafür mit einem Happy End (für Cleopatra und Frankenstein beide)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Minor: Death of parent

pmejia's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Self harm, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual violence and Animal death

karieninas's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

Minor: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual assault

_happilyeverafter_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, and Self harm

culown's review against another edition

3.75

Generally good and engaging book, however lost me at times. Also I felt like we got just a glimpse of these characters and I git left wanting to know more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death of parent, and Self harm

calicosun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

full of vague spoilers tbh 

• i liked that eleanor was in first person. it felt like we knew her intrinsically. she was the most ordinary and therefore she could speak to us directly 
• i wish the sex was more descriptive
• i wish the self harm was too. i didn’t understand the gravity of the harm cleo had caused to herself until the mention of the scar that travelled from her write to her elbow. 
• i liked that we got to know about frank’s 5, and queinten… all these people whose personal lives intertwined and segmented in fascinating fans of darkness and depth. the third person descriptions of the characters and their thoughts and feelings were done with so much clarity and vivid expression that made the reader really feel a connection to the character and their emotions. 
• there was something about the segmented nature of eleanor’s sections that felt extremely personal,almost  diaristic. there was a generosity to them that felt as though they weren’t meant for anyone else to read. i feel like the stars between sections represent lapses in time that also further this sense of a personal diary. that’s also why it feels so generous to. the idea that she has chosen to share so much of herself. releasing everything she writes her to everything outside of her control 
• the resolve that the end was very satisfying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual violence

sarasreading's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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

3.25

 This book is mostly all vibes no plot, but the vibes were not great for me. It’s that kind of contemporary book where most of the characters are a combination of too cool, too pretty, too rich, too traumatized, and/or too dependent on substances to feel like real people to me. They are most definitely made up to be in a book exactly like this. Except for Eleanor. 

 

Around a third of the way into this book is when I started considering DNF-ing, but then Eleanor showed up and I was back in the game! But then she disappeared again, and so did my interest. And then Anders had that moment in that public bathroom and I thought about not picking it up again. That entire scene was a big weird no thank you. There are also a lot of other uncomfortable to read explicit sexual scenes, which is also apparently a staple of this particular kind of contemporary novel. 

 

I stuck with it and my final thoughts are these: The prose is incredible. I loved the descriptions and turns of phrase. I should have written them down to save and savor later. Eleanor’s story arc is the best one in the book by far, and she saved this book for me. I’m not sure that was enough for it to be a five-star read though. In a cast of characters whose sole purpose seems to be, to be interesting, the most interesting character is Eleanor, who isn’t trying to be interesting at all. Was that the author’s purpose? It worked if so, but also, it meant that the majority of the time I did not care about anyone I was reading about. So it also didn’t work for me, in the end. 

 

Although I did like the end actually. It made sense and was satisfying. It could have been a four-star read for me, except for so much explicit, and sometimes disturbingly violent scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Fatphobia and Drug abuse

The sexual violence is imagined, but very explicit.

jj_99's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Animal death

angelitatontita's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt