Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Kleopatra i Frankenstein by Teresa Komłosz, Coco Mellors

408 reviews

aiona's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

2.5

There were things I loved about this book, and things I hated. It felt a lot like a Netflix sitcom or something, and a lot of the characters felt really tropey. A gay man who loves princess Diana, super pretentious arty New Yorkers. I didn’t find them relatable at all. But there were some parts, and some characters that I did find relatable. I think Eleanor was probably the best character in this regard. She seemed much less one-dimensional than the others. 

And although to begin with, the overdone, witty quips from Frank and Cleo felt fake and tiring, their doomed relationship developed to the point that I felt quite emotional reading about how fiercely they loved each other, yet could not connect. Seeing them come to that realisation was moving, despite how pretentious their lives seemed in other ways. 

I suppose I wish the author had written about characters that didn’t feel the need to name-drop and live high-flying lives. Why couldn’t Cleo have been working in a cafe or something rather than be an unemployed artist wife to a guy who built up his own ad agency? People this broken do not have such glitzy lives. And this book would have really been incredible if the characters had seemed more real. The author has a real talent with words. But she chose to write about such unrelatable, movie-like characters. I wonder why she made that decision. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, and Death of parent

carlyt83's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Infidelity

tilly0498's review against another edition

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

1.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

ciarakilroy98's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

I was really enjoying reading about the messy cast of characters and their antics but some of the politics of this book are so questionable and I don’t really feel like the author said or did anything revolutionary besides reaffirming that people with trauma do fucked up things?? The writing was really compelling and kept me engaged for about 200 pages but then it became a sort of chore to finish and could have been about 100 pages shorter.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

xbernadette's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Abandonment, and Classism

hschaapkens's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Cultural appropriation

ameliareads_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death

femi_nasty_biblio's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

vrie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

keesreads's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Deportation