A review by cherrykois
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

4.0

“𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐩𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐬.” 

 

The story starts with two characters Cleo, a British artist who's in her twenties, and Frank, a self-made man who’s in his forties. I thought the whole book might be about the relationship between these two people, but the story is actually about a group of people who lived in New York. A group of people who were all broken in different ways, and still trying to make sense of their fucked up lives. 

 

This book is a lot more on self-discovery and reflections about someone’s mirror, love, trust and perseverance; their grief and longing, selfishness, desire and lust. And Coco Mellors was really successful in encapsulating such heavy contortions on the nature of humans and their dissonance with each other in such a beautiful way. Great characterizations, majestic conversations, plot and settings, also beautiful prose and analogy that draws you in the second you read this book. The characters are reckless, ignorant and vulnerable, leaving a gigantic hole within themselves. Some are so annoyingly pretentious, while others were simply just “vibing”. They were all flawed, to the point that they no longer had a hold on themselves. 

 

“𝐖𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤. 𝐖𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭.” 

 

Mellors used symbolisms of dresses, paintings, and lights. The monthly basis of the story is a common way to show the readers the intensity of their journey. Which over the course you can tell by the chapter’s titles. The sentiment of being quite literally alone and being alone but only with one’s mind is striking and even pointed out a few times. How your friends were not your friends at all and how some stranger may become your greatest assurance. Also, let’s not forget to mention the familial issues that everyone in this book has. A reminder that no family is perfect, and that shouldn’t be a hindrance for you to live a normal life, like normal people. 

 

Some drawbacks in the book might be how selfish and cold hearted some characters can be or how some parts were so rushed the inexplicit reasons for their actions can only corroborate how lost you might feel. It does get too predictable at times but I enjoyed it nevertheless!! 

 

Finally, let’s end this review with another quote, 

 

“ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞.”