Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Cleópatra e Frankenstein

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

300 reviews

rowanelisa's review against another edition

3.75

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

Content Warnings

imalittlechili's review against another edition

2.5

challenging emotional 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

Content Warnings

grunbean's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

A good read, I enjoyed this. I can’t say I always felt the parts made sense, and the phrasing is awkward in places. But that is part of a debut novel!

If you like sad romances, this will be a book you enjoy. The characters are interesting, and keep you invested in the story and where it’s going.

Content Warnings

antonia__'s review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective 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

I somehow loved and hated all the characters at the same time and I was rooting for them but at the same time I wasn't and by the last pages I was so upset but also so moved.

Content Warnings

felicityj's review against another edition

3.0

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Very romanticised (and unrealistic) portrayal of mental illness and addiction

Content Warnings

sabmanosa's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

I think this is a good book, full of very unlikeable, almost cartoonish characters. Despite that, I was hooked onto the story, and the change in POVs was something I think worked for the book. Normally, I love hearing every thought, action etc. a character has when something big is happening, but in the case of this book (and other similar books, like Sally Rooney's), I thought the gaps and jumps worked, so that a longer, broader story could be told without clogging it up with too much drama.

The change in writing style for Eleanor was jarring at first, but really made sense to me as I continued. It shows how different she was, how human, mundane, "average" compared to the rest of the people Cleo and Frank ran around with. I think that was an important distinction to make.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but I liked how their perspectives blended in finally. It was satisfying, in it's own way.

One thing that rubbed me the wrong way was

the way Quentin's character was treated. Though most of the characters were stereotypes, the way Quentin's storyline was treated felt very cruel. We only get one POV from him, we get to empathize with him, and then he's shown to go totally off the rails and is described in such a way that I feel like stereotypes LQBTQ+ folks. It was weird, and hearing about how his story "ended" in the last chapter off-handedly was a bit painful.

I don't think I came out of this really liking any of the characters, but I did like the story and where it took me.

Content Warnings