Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

20 reviews

ephemeral_remi's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Self harm, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

aileron's review against another edition

funny 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Addiction

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

grunbean'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
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A good read, I enjoyed this. I can’t say I always felt the parts made sense, and the phrasing is awkward in places. But that is part of a debut novel! 

If you like sad romances, this will be a book you enjoy. The characters are interesting, and keep you invested in the story and where it’s going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, and Violence

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

This book did things to me. An impulsive marriage is a star at the center of a galaxy orbited by friends and family. And when that star simmers and explodes, everyone feels the aftershocks.

I forget exactly when, but at one point midway through the book I noticed the structure of the narrative. Not in a bad way. In a 'fellow writer albeit in another medium appreciating form' way. And I was struck by how complicated it is to pull off a multidimensional ensemble story like this, and yet how effortless the author made it all feel. Not to mention the emotional pay off. 

That is real skill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Dementia, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

and_abigail's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

really excellent and stunningly written. the only reason it’s not five stars is because i think the author tried to touch on too many subjects (queer identity, racial identity, fat phobia) without going deeper into any of them. we got these characters perspectives for one or two chapters and never really fleshed out their issues in a meaningful way, esp with Quentin. otherwise it was very very good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Self harm, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Physical abuse

lucykateburns's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Minor: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Self harm

sib_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexism, Abandonment, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Transphobia

Minor: Pregnancy