Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

49 reviews

anni88's review against another edition

dark emotional

2.0

I had a hard time getting through this. Especially the first half was such a drag. Everything about the story is overly cliché, therefore so uninteresting and therefore way too long. The introduction of Eleanor saved this from a 1-star rating - she is the only human element in this novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

mariaminthebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

I'm torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars. Let's settle for 3.5/5 

Stating the obvious, the book flows like a river. The writing's great, descriptions' great yada yada yada...

Finished the book in 3 days. That says enough.

Now, the interesting stuff...

I found the main character insufferable, which is absolutely fine, characters do NOT have to be likeable, but Mellors tried SO hard to make her  likeable by mentioning just how likeable she is (how convenient) which made me dislike her even more. 

TW// 

The book also features PRETTY heavy themes like alcoholism, drug abuse, animal cruelty, su!cide, self-h@rm, and the list goes on....without ever really diving into the complexity and complications of each struggle, thereby making the character's problems seem shallow (they are not!!!) 

Along with having like a bazillion unnecessary characters, this, too, was unnecessary. Towards the end of the book, it felt as if Mellors was just throwing in as much trauma as she possibly can for that shocker effect. Unfortunately, that had a counter effect. It made me desensitised to much of the events in the novel. 

traumatised characters ≠ unconditional sympathy

I've read books with way fewer events going on but had a much deeper attachment to the characters.

Frustratingly, this could have been such a good book....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Chronic illness, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

laurataylor's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

dreadpiraterudis's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I didn’t like the start of the book; it felt self indulgent and a little too heavy handed in the romanticizing of the starving artist in New York trope. As they introduced more narrators, I really started to get into the story. It was great to hear characters like Eleanor and Zoe have a bit more of the main stage, but there were so many threads just abandoned when they could have been so interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Animal death, and Death of parent

joeykills's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Grief

swetha062's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

I think in any case that love would sustain you, their life would be a prime contradicting example of that. Cleo and Frank find solace in things except each other. Coco mellors does a great job of catching the intricacies of love between two beings and what makes them want to choose the other. She captures the depth of falls and misses in these moments. Empathy being the key to finding peace, she explains every relationship in the book desperately needing that for themselves. It's beautiful and none of their reasonings fell flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Child abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Death of parent

mariivee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Blood, and Animal cruelty

ineplanx's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Animal death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

hgrimston's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

whilst it took me a while to get into, I think I fell in love with the characters despite the mistakes they make.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

adamparrishlover's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

it's kinda like gosspil girl for people that are currently debating wether or not they should get a sugar daddy to pay for their expenses. mostly questionable with some strong feminism sprinkled in here and there. 

Ah and also everyone in New York does coke like EVERYONE 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Grief, Death of parent, Addiction, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual content, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Suicide