Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

15 reviews

joeykills's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Grief

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

hanhantap's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Dysphoria

tolu_odejide's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I have a penchant of reading books too fast. This book was so uncomfortably reflective that I had to rush through it or else I’d stop and never come back. 

Mellors writes in the modern style, I first encountered when I read “Girl. Woman. Other.” It’s pervasive, a book on my tbr list, “I’m a Fan” is also written in a similar style. Morally grey characters who make morally ambiguous decisions. Cheat on their partners, humiliate themselves in public and are never sober. 

I can never read more than a couple of these books a year. They’re too modern. I prefer confronting my emotions through several layers of illusion. This one, was brilliant however. 

The characters are well-crafted, written with such empathy that it’s easy to see yourself reflected back in them, even the bad bits. Frank’s story particularly resonated with me. 

Theme exploration in this book felt like a caress. It felt like someone had dug deep underneath my defences and helped rearrange things. Finishing this felt like I’d shaken something out of a favourite coat. I understand myself better now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Self harm, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death

mayaism_01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

I'm putting this tentatively at 4 stars because I'm not 100% sure I enjoyed it but I've thought about it enough that it has to rank higher than books I outright didn't enjoy or didn't care for in any significant way. This was a thrilling and provocative story about the relationships between people and how the people that build you up can also be the ones that crush you, making peace with your trauma and other narrative strands that I don't think I fully gripped. I enjoyed the whirlwind of Cleo and Frank's story and enjoyed the smaller interjections of their other friends' perspectives, though some like Quentin and Zoe I think deserved more fleshing out. I think the further away I get from this novel the more I'll appreciate it, though something I definitely enjoyed was Mellor's writing style, punchy and lyrical (the same kind of vibe as Lana Del Rey lyrics), and the chaotic characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Infidelity, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

michaelamatthew's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Animal death, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

adrienne_rennie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Drug use, Dementia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Self harm, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Dementia, Grief, Dysphoria, and Sexual content

cestarimm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Spoiler

i’m glad they didn’t end up together.

i took a long time to finish this book even though i liked it from the start. 

all i wanted was to shake cleo’s shoulders and take her to therapy.

it is an exploration on the ripple effect a hasty decision can have on every other relationship we have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Dysphoria, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Suicide

angelaaaa's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Transphobia, Infidelity, Death, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Grief, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Violence, Fatphobia, Blood, Mental illness, and Homophobia

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

This book did things to me. An impulsive marriage is a star at the center of a galaxy orbited by friends and family. And when that star simmers and explodes, everyone feels the aftershocks.

I forget exactly when, but at one point midway through the book I noticed the structure of the narrative. Not in a bad way. In a 'fellow writer albeit in another medium appreciating form' way. And I was struck by how complicated it is to pull off a multidimensional ensemble story like this, and yet how effortless the author made it all feel. Not to mention the emotional pay off. 

That is real skill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Dementia, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic relationship