yourariesbby's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Alcohol, Misogyny, Self harm, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Cursing
emisbooks'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
4.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Alcohol, Death of parent, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Self harm, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Animal death
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia
calais_'s review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
hannalizzy's review
- 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
Cleopatra and Frankenstein is a literary fiction masterpiece and in-depth character study. It’s the type of book that readers need to put some work into — you learn about the characters passively, by connecting the dots between their dialogue and their actions/behaviors. It’s a book worth annotating because so much is said between the lines.
Throughout the book you go from loving Cleo and Frank to hating them both, individually and as a couple. They’re messy, flawed, toxic people who bring out the worst in each other, and yet: “when the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.”
It’s as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. It’s raw, it’s messy, it’s human. 5/5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Definitely adult content w/ triggering subjects. Check for content warnings ❤️🩹
Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Infidelity, Grief, Addiction, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Death of parent
piaschj's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Cursing
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, and Rape
esme_may's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Grief
sib_reads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexism, Abandonment, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Transphobia
Minor: Pregnancy
impeachnixon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
While I understand that this book was trying to tell many interconnected stories, I think there were just too many people with too serious of issues to really be done well. Quentin's meth use, for example, isn't really explored as well as it could be, and so I feel like it was weird that it was included at all. I'm not complaining about the end of his story, because I think it's interesting actually to just have Cleo say "I couldn't support him and so I ended that friendship". It just feels like Quentin's spiral into addiction to meth was a huge thing to happen off-screen, but also a necessary result of trying to tell 1,000 stories at once (and having all of those stories tackle very serious issues). Plus, why mention Quentin being possibly trans or genderqueer if you're never going to mention it again? It ends up simplifying a lot of serious issues, like Santiago's recovery from binge eating disorder really just coming down to "he's going to meetings and now he's losing weight", with the bulk of it being explored in a single chapter. This problem even extends to the titular couple, Cleo and Frank. Cleo's suicide attempt, for example, seemed a little brushed over, and it didn't help that we switched to the perspective of the caterer at her wedding after the attempt. It was a beautifully written book and it did have plenty of fleshed out, interesting characters, but it could use with some trimming and some more focus. What happened to Ander's 'son', for instance, or Zoe's financial situation? Is she being financially supported by Jiro, and, if so, what implications does that have for their relationship? And I'd be fine with a book not completely tying up every single loose end for every single side character except that there were chapters that interrupted the main story to ask me to care about all these side characters and then sometimes very little resolution.
Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/injury detail, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Infidelity
Moderate: Outing, Abandonment, Sexism, Transphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia