Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Cleopatra und Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

31 reviews

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

This book was really satisfying. I loved the writing style - it felt like we followed each person's thoughts and actions in a natural and interesting way, and Mellors seems to know exactly when to leave a person's perspective for maximum impact. Cleo and Frank are deeply interesting and complex, and the vignettes of their lives over the first year of their marriage paint a thoughtful portrait of two people trying to make when they are so different. I found many parts of this book profound and loved getting insights into the people in Cleo and Frank's lives, especially Zoe, Eleanor, and Santiago. New York City is also a vivid character in this book, which I always love. I found this book really affecting and will definitely be reading more of Mellors' work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

paulawind's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-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

1.0

Rich People’s Problems but Wait, They All Have Tragic Backstories: A Novel

The only reason I finished this book was because it is my Book Club novel. I fought and sweated my way through page by page because it’s just so bad. It’s part of the trend for authors to try to make their books “deeper” by flooding every character with trauma. Pain Porn if you prefer. 

The author thought that by giving each character a single-defining struggle she is making them less one-dimensional but because of that they felt almost like cartoon characters. Cleo - beautiful, thin, talented, young BUT WAIT she is depressed and has both mummy and daddy issues; Frank - beautiful, “manly”, successful, rich and older BUT WAIT he had mummy issues and is an alcoholic, Zoe - beautiful, thin, talented BUT WAIT she has seizures, Quentin - beautiful, thin, rich “snarky gay best friend” BUT WAIT he can’t come out of the closet because of his homophobic Polish family (fuck you for that Coc, enforcing Polish stereotypes) and is a drug addict, Anders - beautiful, thin, rich fuckboy BUT WAIT his step-son doesn’t like him anymore and his parents don’t visit him in the US. You see what I mean? The only half-decent characters are Eleanor and Santiago, just because they are not awful to other people, but they rarely are given voice and in the end are pushed into the role of “I can fix him” girl for Frank and “losing weight will let you find love”, respectively. Nauseating. TikTok girlies, wake up, this is not literary fiction you claim it to be.

The book obviously features a lot of content warnings - wouldn’t be a pain porn without it - but I’m not sure if it’s handled even passably well.

Cleo’s depression and its consequences, Frank’s alcoholism, Zoe’s inability to live without a trust fund, Anders’s familial infidelity - all get magically solved by the end, with no depth or mental insight given on any of the aforementioned. Cleo started painting and moved to Italy - depression solved; Frank “got fixed” by his mummy to-be-wife; Zoe just found herself a sugar daddy; and Anders swept the whole issue under the rug. We can’t of course forget that the happy ending is only given to straight people - queers go to hell with our only rep - Quentin - ending up a meth head and most likely dying

This book angered me on so many levels. It was the superficial depth, wannabe literary fiction, over sexualisation of everything (Zoe saying that she is “a real girl” now, after climaxing, nauseated me), disrespectful treatment of a lot of extremely heavy issues and -how could I forget - BLATANT plagiarism of other media (yes, I’m looking at you ripped-off Fleabag dinner scene). Awful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism

nneka23's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall, I liked the writing style and the structure of the book. It really made me feel like I was following this group of friends around NYC or was even part of the friend group. The descriptions, humor, and distinct personalities of each character shine through. I just wish the ending didn’t leave me so…deflated. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the way things wrapped up between all the characters made me sad and a tiny bit pessimistic

about relationships/marriage

. And unfortunately, I think that’s all I’ll really think of when I remember this book. I did really enjoy the journey though and I’m definitely looking forward to Coco Mellors’ next book. Hopefully Blue Sisters doesn’t leave me feeling blue too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, and Drug use

Moderate: Mental illness

ummebby's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

ashlynregan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense 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

This book is for New Yorkers cause I swear I know all of these characters IRL.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jazzy_cat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? 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, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

afternoondreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

ktwoolen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

Tore me apart in the best way. I  love the reflective writing in this book and the raw depiction of human nature and relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

nreyno's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

freshpageonthedesk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death and Chronic illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide