Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

63 reviews

laylay2's review

3.5

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I was a little disappointed after reading blue sisters. While I love the writing style of this book the “no plot, just vibes” critique was too adamant to ignore. It felt like nothing was happening then BOOM suicide attempt. Like HUH??? While I really sympathize for Cleo’s situation, that really drew me out of it. But I liked Elenor and Santiago. I much preferred blue sisters tho. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Suicide attempt

robynl_0712's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence

emmabrwn's review

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent

lexcellent's review

3.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Fuck Frank. Cleo wasn't perfect, but she deserved more. She's definitely better off without him, though.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

alina01's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

mywonderfulsea's review

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment

supermormongirl's review against another edition

0.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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There’s racist tropes of angry POC, a LOT of fatphobia, and a wildy misogynistic fantasy rape and murder scene- literally none of this was necessary at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

kelseyruby's review

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide attempt

Minor: Misogyny, Transphobia

daja123's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

villanelleslvr's review

1.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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this didn’t do it for me. i loved mellors’ other novel and had high hopes for her debut. i enjoyed parts of this, like eleanor’s chapters that provided glimpses of her life and witty conversations, but other parts of this really unsettled and disgusted me. the death of the sugar glider, the graphic description of anders’ fantasies (if you can call violence a fantasy), and the overall way that women were treated and portrayed in this book all made me sick. that isn’t even mentioning the racism and prejudicial comments that many of the characters expressed. many of the characters seemed like stereotypes instead of well-written people. the comments about poland also upset me because it is a beautiful country with a wonderful culture (all countries have their own faults, the usa is at the top of that list lol). i found it hard to relate to any of the characters and the ending didn’t make me feel like any of the story was resolved. i was happy for santiago and dominique, though! 

overall, very odd and off-putting. would not recommend unless you enjoy reading about pretentious nyc artists and advertisers, pain, and addiction. 

honorable mention to two quotes:

p. 329:

“people are like this too, you know,” he says eventually. “we break.
we put ourselves back together. the cracks are the best part. you don't have to hide them.”

and on p. 334

“movie, melatonin, and (redacted),” she says, tapping out the words on my hand with her finger. “best night's sleep you'll ever have.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail