Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

44 reviews

rowander's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Best summed up in its own words: "it often seemed nothing very much was happening in [the story] until something startling and ireconsilable did." Very poignant, incredibly intense. The discussions of addiction are handled very well, but huge trigger warnings if you or someone you love is in active addiction. 

Edit: after thinking more for a few months I'm bumping this down. I was in too much shock at the ending to address it at the time, but...

I think Quentin was incredibly hard done by as a character. The absolute shock transition into meth addiction blew my mind and completely shook me. I think that might be because I found this book through searching for LGBT books, and the book description particularly focuses on Quentin gender identity - for that to be a very, very minor story line and for Quentin's character to be given such a dark ending. I also felt similar about Frank's sister, who's story line of entering a sugar baby/daddy relationship didn't have fruition until the end of the novel despite being another central part of the book description. It felt misleading, and very much in Quentin's case like a 'bury your gays' trope that I've sat uncomfortably with for a while now. I really don't recommend this book on those themes at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Transphobia, Death of parent, Dysphoria

lucykateburns's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional hopeful 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: Sexual content, Suicide attempt

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

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

sib_reads's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

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

Minor: Pregnancy

harleysmiller's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional 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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This book very easily entered my top 5 favorite books of all time when I was only about 30 pages into it. It is devastating and hopeful and brutal and REAL. You hate every character and love them so deeply. It felt like reading about a little slice of someone’s life like I was being let in on a secret. Every character was so well developed and complex. I would recommend this a million times over. It has the vibe of Conversations with Friends while being completely original and unique. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so strongly about a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol