Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Kleopatra i Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

446 reviews

shanamertenz's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt

virgomoon9's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship

read_between_the_wines's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Dementia, Death of parent

medini_l's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol

readersmultiverse's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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• 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

motherofbodie's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship

lngoldstein's review against another edition

4.25

dark sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

batforanna's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship

alayarocco's review against another edition

2.25

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Nothing much of substance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent

carly_reads's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“Cleopatra, the original undoer of men.” “Frankenstein sounds about right. Creator of monsters.” 

When the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.

Why did she feel the need to make everyone, even this waiter, like her? What a thing it must be to be indifferent to indifference.

Everything she had ever wanted to hear from a man was hers from the mouth of a girl.

If you prefer one outcome over another in life, you will likely be disappointed. I prefer nothing and am always surprised.

Sweetheart, love is humiliating. Hasn’t anyone told you that? Do you know the word humiliate comes from the Latin root humus, which means ‘earth’? That’s how love is supposed to feel. Like earth. It grounds you. All this nonsense about love being a drug, making you feel high, that’s not real. It should hold you like the earth.

This was gut wrenchingly sad. Would it be cliche if I said this is All Too Well (10 Minute Version) meets I miss you, I’m sorry by Gracie Abrams in the form of a novel? 

I almost dnf’d this at first because I was worried the characters would be insufferable for 300+ pages, but as I kept reading, I realized these are some of the most flawed and realistic characters I’ve ever read. I constantly felt like I’d made up my mind about characters, and then I’d read something that would change my whole perspective. It serves as a reminder that everyone is struggling with something that you probably wouldn’t guess upon first glance.  I think this is a statement on how much messed up family dynamics hurt and shape us in adulthood. It’s also about being angry, lonely, depressed, and confused and not knowing what to do about it. On a more positive note, it’s also about love, home, community, sisterhood, healing, empathy, intimacy, forgiveness, and what stillness can mean when you’ve only ever known chaos. I especially appreciated the points made about vulnerability and how sometimes it’s rewarded but not always. 

As an aside, Eleanor and her mother are some of my favorite characters I’ve ever read. Funny girl representation! 

I can see the Sally Rooney comparisons but I wouldn’t say they’re overtly similar in terms of writing style or characterization. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent