Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

555 reviews

jonskellington's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This read like a mix of You've Got Mail and Sex Education (Cleo gave off big Maeve energy) which created a nostalgic yet modern vibe I really appreciated.
 

The ending was just okay because I was expecting a bit more, but overall the emotional weight of the story was beautiful and hauntingly familiar. I do wish the BIPOC characters didn't feel so whitewashed because I felt this book lacked any nuanced voices to counteract the very white problems this book focuses on. The character, Zoe, deserved more time to shine!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use

faenth's review against another edition

3.5

challenging 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, Mental illness, Self harm

Moderate: Animal death, Blood

Minor: Death of parent

salomemoerl's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death

fernhughes's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective 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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A gripping and gorgeous read, Coco Mellors’ writing style is beautifully descriptive. As others have said, Frank and Cleo’s actions are irritating and I sometimes found myself gobsmacked — but I believe this is the point of this book. My only complaint is that the wild, substance abusing NYC lifestyle felt unrealistic and fantastical which slightly took away from the otherwise relatable characters.

As I got towards the end I wasn’t sure whether there would be a second ‘plot’ - ultimately, I was glad there wasn’t.

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Content Warnings

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

maria_k2000's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny hopeful medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol

gabby_stay's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny 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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So emotional but a cozy read. Definite trigger warnings to consider but overall I resonated with the experiences Cleo was going through. I really understand why Mellors took so long to write this - she took her time to ace perfection and understanding of everyday people's experiences.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship

livangel's review against another edition

3.25

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Honestly, it’s a very interesting take on every day life. I think it shows how “Cleopatra” and “Frankenstein“ are both monsters and victims.  It shows that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you love each other, sometimes relationships are sometimes bad or toxic. It makes you think about how you view or judge people and reflect on where the problem truly lies. Definitely worth a read. The book does drag on sometimes, but that’s just part of its charm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

iaeke's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny 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: Self harm, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse

laura_w's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Suicide attempt

aprescriptiontoread's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Minor: Suicide