Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Cleópatra e Frankenstein

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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

98 reviews

findingmyshoes's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

villanelleslvr's review against another edition

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

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.”

Content Warnings

elinexmartens's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

amaerina's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Content Warnings

broookecoveney's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

anna_lizzy8's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

limchaerin's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

aliceisafangirl's review against another edition

2.0

emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The most redeeming characters have the least time to develop and reflect. Everyone in this book needs help.

Content Warnings

lisamstanhope's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

I struggled at times with this novel, it had many themes that in other books would be an automatic dnf for me. However there was something about this book that made me push through and keep reading.
The main negatives for me were the sexual violence towards women almost glamorizing it….just why do women write about sex in this vein….i could imagine the outrage if it were a male writing this.
It was dark and heavy at times but had some lighter moments. Good satisfying ending although I would have like to have heard more about Zoe and how she fared beyond the brief mention in the ending.

Content Warnings

lavishrebellion's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Probably one of the hottest it-books of the last two years, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but it did feel very vibe-y, which was accurate. Taking place in Manhattan and featuring characters of a certain milieu (flashy; social) “Cleopatra and Frankenstein,” about the rise and fall of a couple who surprisingly get married, alongside the lives of their friend groups and relatives, had moments of depth, was a juicy read at times, detailed and committed to its alternating POVs, and at times very graphic in its sexual imagery and violence. (I want to note that I really appreciated how she wrote the characters of color too). Its author Coco Mellors cared a lot about her characters and it showed in her writing. And as someone who lived in NY in the 2010s, this book also heavily harkened to that time period for me and thus, a ride of bittersweet nostalgia.

Content Warnings

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