Reviews tagging Sexual harassment

Cleopatra and Frankenstein, by Coco Mellors

7 reviews

theoverbookedshelf's review

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual harassment

emily_boe's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

inesbnstgry's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

Definitely don't read this unless you're mentally strong enough to bear it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Abandonment, Addiction, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Drug use, Racism, Transphobia, Death, Animal death, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

anjelica's review

challenging dark slow-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

1.5

Wanted to give this a 1 star but added a little bit extra because there are some nice lines here and there. The titular characters were not nuanced, complex, or interesting enough to carry me through this character-driven book. The side characters were tokenized and stereotyped, and a racial slur for Romani people is used. There are mentions of serious topics, such as addiction and depression, but these were not explored deeply enough to garner meaningful commentary. Because of this, their traumas just felt romanticized/sensationalized for shock value.  Overall, this did not work for me personally but I do understand why some people love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia

saturnsmoons's review

challenging dark emotional 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

a masterpiece. this books dives into the complexities of life like I've never read before. this devastating story is told from such a relatable perspective. i am enthralled by this book, quite literally in love.      

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment

marjoleinvanderspoel's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.0

Boy oh boy. Is two stars too generous? This was in turn exciting to read because the author is actually pretty good and also excruciating to read because the characters were unbelievably self-absorbed, annoying and fake. The only character I kind of liked was Zoe, but she got like no time at all in the book. Why even include her if she wasn't important/going to get a good story arch? Well, it's for "diversity" of course. Tell me, why were all side characters part of a minority when the main characters were (mostly) straight and white??? It's just comes off as cheap, I'm sorry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Misogyny, Infidelity, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and Emotional abuse

versmonesprit's review

emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

2.0

When Cleo and Frank meet, they give each other the very telling nicknames of Cleopatra and Frankenstein: to him, she’s a queen, a goddess — an affirmation she shares about herself deep down; to her, he’s a monster, and through her eyes he sees himself as such too — because of this, when with her he is. This is important, because as the book progresses, every character goes from likeable or unlikeable to utterly intolerable in their differently horrendous ways of being. I adored this book mightily, but then couldn’t stand it to the point it put me off reading entirely for a while. I had to force myself to continue reading. Most characters are at least, to a degree, self-aware, but the book’s titular Cleo is so full of herself, so self-victimising à la yt woman, and the book never makes her take any accountability in anything at all. Cleo’s dependence on men - when coupled with her ungrateful character and puerile lack of responsibility - made reading this book a pain for me in the second half. Cleo is emotionally manipulative and physically abusive, and all other characters by virtue of some sort of self-awareness are slightly better, but you’ll still be reading about privileged addicts playing victims. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is great, but half of the book made my blood boil. P.S. The graphic animal deaths felt needlessly reactionary.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship