Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

94 reviews

paulawind's review

reflective tense slow-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

1.0

Rich People’s Problems but Wait, They All Have Tragic Backstories: A Novel

The only reason I finished this book was because it is my Book Club novel. I fought and sweated my way through page by page because it’s just so bad. It’s part of the trend for authors to try to make their books “deeper” by flooding every character with trauma. Pain Porn if you prefer. 

The author thought that by giving each character a single-defining struggle she is making them less one-dimensional but because of that they felt almost like cartoon characters. Cleo - beautiful, thin, talented, young BUT WAIT she is depressed and has both mummy and daddy issues; Frank - beautiful, “manly”, successful, rich and older BUT WAIT he had mummy issues and is an alcoholic, Zoe - beautiful, thin, talented BUT WAIT she has seizures, Quentin - beautiful, thin, rich “snarky gay best friend” BUT WAIT he can’t come out of the closet because of his homophobic Polish family (fuck you for that Coc, enforcing Polish stereotypes) and is a drug addict, Anders - beautiful, thin, rich fuckboy BUT WAIT his step-son doesn’t like him anymore and his parents don’t visit him in the US. You see what I mean? The only half-decent characters are Eleanor and Santiago, just because they are not awful to other people, but they rarely are given voice and in the end are pushed into the role of “I can fix him” girl for Frank and “losing weight will let you find love”, respectively. Nauseating. TikTok girlies, wake up, this is not literary fiction you claim it to be.

The book obviously features a lot of content warnings - wouldn’t be a pain porn without it - but I’m not sure if it’s handled even passably well.

Cleo’s depression and its consequences, Frank’s alcoholism, Zoe’s inability to live without a trust fund, Anders’s familial infidelity - all get magically solved by the end, with no depth or mental insight given on any of the aforementioned. Cleo started painting and moved to Italy - depression solved; Frank “got fixed” by his mummy to-be-wife; Zoe just found herself a sugar daddy; and Anders swept the whole issue under the rug. We can’t of course forget that the happy ending is only given to straight people - queers go to hell with our only rep - Quentin - ending up a meth head and most likely dying

This book angered me on so many levels. It was the superficial depth, wannabe literary fiction, over sexualisation of everything (Zoe saying that she is “a real girl” now, after climaxing, nauseated me), disrespectful treatment of a lot of extremely heavy issues and -how could I forget - BLATANT plagiarism of other media (yes, I’m looking at you ripped-off Fleabag dinner scene). Awful

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism

ssaammii's review

emotional reflective 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

4.0

This was an entertaining read that I was compulsively drawn back to. 
The prose was successful in capturing a very specific atmosphere at points that resonated with me, but did sometimes fail to thread the needle between the observation and critique of familiar internal demons, and indulging/condoning the worst actions of its characters. I found myself very much riding off the vibes the characters as a collective, bevause as individuals they could be somewhat unbearable at times. I did find the passage of time to be very well articulated through the seasonal changes and the character interactions that developed naturally.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Transphobia, and Vomit

ashcook's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Transphobia

annabelholt's review against another edition

characters were completely unlikeable and i drew no connection to any of them whatsoever. writer felt more concerned about aesthetics than plot or story 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

hunni_reads's review

emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Eating disorder and Transphobia

nataliesophia_13's review

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

This book really put me through it, I knew just from reading the back that these characters struggle. I felt every emotion I never knew possible, and at times I didn’t even know who I was rooting for. Both the main characters were heavily flawed, Frank with alcoholism and Cleo with depression and affairs, but you could still feel they loved each other. But sometimes love isn’t enough and i personally had a hard time letting their relationship go, because I could remember the love. The ending was ver serendipitous and i personally adore their last conversation. Eleanoar is good for Frank, and Cleo needs to work on herself. They both aknowledged the faults within their marriage and moved past it. Also, RIP Jesus, you won’t be forgotten 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

teslis's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

This book was GREAT! I loved the language and that I got to meet multiple pov, I really like that I got to hate

Frank

in the beginning and in the end I started to really like that character. And the opposite with

Quentin

. So excited for my book club’s discussion on the future. If you want to read this book, go read it now! It’s amazing!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide, Transphobia, and Abandonment

st333phanie's review

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I could tell after the first chapter that this was going to be an all time favourite book of mine. So beautiful and heartbreaking and human. I fell in love with every character despite their flaws and how they’d anger me at certain points but I wanted the best for each and every one of them. 

The fact that this story took 7 years to flesh out completely is evident by the amount of care taken in the way this story of told, so beautifully written. I can tell I’m going to be revisiting this book for years to come.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Death of parent

c_ourte's review against another edition

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

3.5

I read it super quickly and the themes definitely touched my core wounds but I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters. I didn’t feel what they were feeling.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Suicide, and Blood

afternoondreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Transphobia