Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Cleopatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

196 reviews

moonbeamdmercutio's review against another edition

I was pushing my way through the audiobook. Wonderful narration but I can not stand the story, writing, characters, etc. Just used it as white noise while going about my day without an issue until the story strayed from Cleo and Frank (yknow, the titular characters) and started focusing on the stereotypical gay guy who apparently only cares about fashion and sex. Could ignore the downright terrible depiction of gay men until the author decides to throw in an unnecessary "orgy" scene? Couldn't get through two minutes of it. Corny writing. Bad characters. Offensive. Cannot imagine myself ever enjoying this book, in audio or physical format. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Sexism

huge age gap (approximately 20 or more years)

theraindiary's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Abandonment, Animal death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, and Transphobia

crawforl's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Self harm, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Dementia, Drug use, and Infidelity

junenez's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Addiction, and Infidelity

alayarocco's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.25

Nothing much of substance.

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Content Warnings

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

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

gigi99's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content

readwithblu's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

Contemporary read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

lindseybkoehler's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Self harm

carly_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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

Moderate: Death of parent

booksofpanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

4.5

A great debut novel that I almost couldn’t put aside. Coco Mellors describes in Cleopatra and Frankenstein a love story that doesn’t feel like one at all. Instead her novel is full of tragedy, everyday reality, absurdities and heartbreaking honesty. The story revolves around the name giving couple Cleo and Frank, but also around their friends and family and their lives in New York. It is told from all their different perspectives. The author describes with refreshing bluntness the different sides of a toxic relationship as well as other hard topics like loss, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and depression. This novel has moved me in many ways and made me feel all sorts of feelings from rage to pity up to sadness. It also made me laugh a lot about many absurdities that you get to experience when you live in New York. At times I thought the chapters were a bit too long. All in all an absolute pageturner that doesn’t feel like reading a debut novel. I can’t wait to read what’s next to come from Coco Mellors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Terminal illness