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Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

44 reviews

adventurous dark informative reflective tense slow-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

Spoilers!!!!
Soooo many ts songs reminded me of this book!!! 
Deeply flawed characters and toxic relationships. Everyone struggles. 
I Never liked Cleo and Frank‘s Relationship (i don’t like the age gap) and I don’t like them both that much. I like Cleo sometimes too, she can be relatable. The chapters are quite long but that didn’t bother me very much- the usual POV‘S are Cleo and Frank but you got like 1-2 chapters in the POV of Zoe, Eleanor, Quentin and Santiago
The two chapters that were Eleanor‘s POV i didn’t like, I don’t know why there were that many small paragraphs with stuff I don’t care about. Her and Frank‘s relationship was something I also never liked. A lot of things were predictable in this book but there were also plottwists so it’s fine if.
Quentin is very strange and I was always a bit scared of him tbh because he’s just so uncomfortable. I kneeew that Alex was bad for him tbh (I thought it was cute in the beginning in Quentin‘s POV but then in the other people‘s POV i saw the problematic)
I loveee Zoe. I think she was my fav person in the book. I could sympathies with her (more in the end not so much in the beginning) Santiago is I think the only unproblematic character in the book. I love him and I’m sooo happy for how his life‘s like now. 
My fav scene is the one where Audrey, Cleo and Zoe spend time together (p 82- 91) especially the part when they went home to Cleo‘s (i think) ❤️❤️❤️

Cleo:
+ an artist
+ a feminist that puts people in their place
+ „ you want credit for not leaving me? Are you joking? Sorry Frank, but you married me…“ (p261)
+ she has a smooth way of feeling and she feels so much 
- she complained about her pain when they had THAT fight but didn’t care about Frank‘s pin at all 
- in general made some poor ass arguments in that fight
- „Could it be? Are we back here again? At Frank pity party?“ (p261) HUGE L
- compared her trauma to Frank‘s 💀
- had an affair 

Frank:
+ changed for the better!
+ cares about Eleanor
+ finally cried in the end
+ supported Cleo financially 
+ super rich but then not too cocky
- a man
- killed their pet that they loved and lied about it
- bought an illegal pet
- had an affair 
- gave his sister money all the time 
- alcoholic for the most time of this book

Zoe:
+ has her struggles but powerful
+ sweet and kind
+ the whole thing with Jiro :))
+ the way she connected w Cleo
+ idk but her sexual struggles make her so much more sympathetic 
+ the scene were she layers on the ground next to Cleo (p 312) ❤️❤️
- asking her brother for money all the time
- doesn’t know how to spend money

„The parties, Sex, alcohol and drug use is so New York City aesthetic“…. Girl wtf no it’s literally not. 
„ everyone we know in NY is an addict, aren’t they?“ (p355) lol yeah they are. The way drugs are used in the book is sooooo bad holy shit especially like Quentin and Alex and stuff but actually they all. 

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dark emotional sad 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging reflective tense 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: Complicated

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hopeful reflective relaxing 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny inspiring reflective sad tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-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

If the song “I’m wearing his boxers/I cry in his bathroom, he turns off the big light” song “Complex” by Katie Gregson-MacLeod from tiktok was a book, this would be it. Or “You’re On Your Own, Kid” by Taylor Swift from Midnights. Or “Moon Song” by Phoebe Bridgers. Take your pick. If any of those songs break you, this book will finish the job 😭❤️‍🩹

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is a literary fiction masterpiece and in-depth character study. It’s the type of book that readers need to put some work into — you learn about the characters passively, by connecting the dots between their dialogue and their actions/behaviors. It’s a book worth annotating because so much is said between the lines. 

Throughout the book you go from loving Cleo and Frank to hating them both, individually and as a couple. They’re messy, flawed, toxic people who bring out the worst in each other, and yet: “when the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.” 

It’s as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. It’s raw, it’s messy, it’s human. 5/5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Definitely adult content w/ triggering subjects. Check for content warnings ❤️‍🩹

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

oh wow. i can relate. this book is about how fucking sad love can be. this book is about two people loving eatch other, but looosing themselves because they are not meant for each other. because love is not enough. because love can be toxic. because sometimes you are better off with someone else, even though you truely love the other person. 

this book is about s*x. s*x and s*x talks. maybe because people of that age express love through physical intimacy, as well as compensate for loneliness through it?

this book felt like beautiful world, where are you. 

i respect this book for including gay sex (yup, very detailled) and a person struggling with gender identity. and for writting about sexual assults by women (just one sentence but still i noticed it).

i underlined almost every freaking sentence of this book. because i can relate. because i can feel with the characters. but it didn't hit an emotional spot. i wish it did. in the middle of the book it almost put me in a reading slump tbh. i even had to listen to the audiobook while reading it, to make any progress. at some point i was like waiting for the book to get interesting.

it did get better. the second half was better (as soon as eleanor appears) and the ending is so sad (and happy and hopeful at the same time).

my favorite character is eleanor (because i always feel like the one unhappy in love, the one overseen, the one having a crush but never does anything to be with that person because i have a low self-esteem) and cleo (because she is kind of the opposite, because she does end up with the person she loves but it didn't work out, because she experiences a toxic relationship, because she struggles with herself and the world even tho everyone looks up to her, because she does make progress, because she starts her journey to find herself and what makes her happy).

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