Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Cleopatra and Frankenstein

So I thought this book was going to be about an abusive relationship, probably because of the woman with a bruised eye on the cover, but it’s not, really. It’s about dysfunctional relationships, and about how the people we’re surrounded by influence us, and how we influence the people surrounding us. I won’t lie, I wouldn’t have picked up this book had it not been assigned by book club. The first chapter had me rolling my eyes hard; it felt like a dissertation on the patriarchy disguised as a novel. I was surprised that each chapter switched focus to different characters, and I will say that each character had a distinct voice and journey. It was well written, edging to the point of pretentious and maybe crossing over a few (many) times. My favorite chapter was Santiago’s, which surprised me considering I’d completely forgotten he existed by the time we got to him. I also really liked Eleanor, and the choice to make her chapters alone first-person, stream-of-consciousness POV was both risky and rewarding. Her observations were funny and fun to follow along with.

Everyone else was fucked up, but I’ll give Mellors credit in that you fully understand why they’re fucked up, and you empathize with them. The character I was most disappointed by was Quentin. He got one chapter, which sort of examined his gender dysphoria and then

backed completely off it to get him addicted to meth.

He felt like a very one-dimensional “gay character,” and he became incredibly unlikeable for it.

There were two things that took away from the enjoyment of the book for me: first, and most glaringly, once you realize that Cleo is just a self-insert for the author, it’s very hard to take the book seriously. Especially with the amount of time Cleo’s complimented on her beauty, and how everyone loves her, and how in comparison Eleanor is “sturdy” like a fucking tree — yeah, it’s weird. Every time Cleo was mentioned it was impossible to forget she was functionally the author because of her long flowing blonde hair and mysterious air — buddy, you could’ve at least made her brunette for plausible deniability.

The second problem was the fact that Cleo felt it was appropriate

to recreate the scene of her suicide attempt, and force Frank, who found her, to relive it.

That was FOUL. Like that was so incredibly fucked up I’m genuinely stunned it happened. Obviously I’m not going to insist that a book follow my own morality and such, but the fact that it was presented as growth for Cleo, as the end of her arc, is messed up and borderline unforgivable. Frank was kind of a dick because, well, he was an alcoholic and also married a woman twenty years younger than him, but he didn’t deserve that.

Side note: nobody in this fucking book deserved to have a pet. Yeah, I’m looking at you too, Anders, you shithead.

In the end, I think the book did what it set out to do — show the dysfunction in interpersonal relationships — and I think the writing was good, and the characters were interesting. I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t say I loved it.

Content Warnings

reneest's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

crawforl's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

readersmultiverse's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

2.5

• Brilliant writing, very creative and immersive.
• Important topics were explored well.
• Plot was almost non-existent. It was just New York, alcohol, drugs, infidelity and vibes.
• More of a character case study kind of book.

Content Warnings

eleanorferrari17's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

I really enjoyed this book. Beautifully written dialogue between characters, with every argument, party and outing uncovering a different side to the characters. Cleo, Frank and Zoe felt like fully fleshed out people, and I felt very invested in their storylines.

I’ve voted it 3.75 because I finished it wanting more from some of the storylines, and some things were left unresolved

Zoe and her acting career / new man, and Anders and the whole Cleo affair

Content Warnings

junenez's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

Interesting. Cleo and frank are two messed up people with messed up friends. These were some wild people! Drugs,sex, etc. I was pretty much annoyed at how messed up all the characters were. I was hoping they would all figure it out but that's not what happened. Different from what I usually read and I enjoyed the storyline for the most part. Can't say I liked any of the people in this book!

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