Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

161 reviews

lauraloren's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

nineinchnails's review against another edition

3.0

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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more detailed review to come but for now let’s just say it was a little disappointing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Grief

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Suicide, Death of parent

Disordered eating

garfriendofmine's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny 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

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i read this book in march of 2024 and it’s january 2025 and i still think about this book once a week (not always positive but undeniably worth reading in my opinion”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism

rylie_o's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Blood, Abandonment

aleilvandrea's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Classism

Minor: Ableism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria

fairyko's review against another edition

2.25

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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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 Often I have walked past this book in the bookstore and thought about buying it. At the request of a friend, I did, because she said she would need someone at the end to exchange her thoughts about it and quickly it became clear to me why she said that. Right at the beginning a big warning. Please read the trigger warnings on the internet if you plan to buy this book. I did not know that certain topics are discussed so intensively and I claim to be able to handle a lot well - but here even I felt sick to my stomach now and then. A content warning at the beginning of the book would have been good in my opinion. Now about the content. I did not like the characters. Except for Santiago, I found every single person introduced annoying, boring, tiring, or just plain mean. Or all at once. The relationship between Cleo and Frank was doomed to fail from the start and you practically watch the two of them gradually destroy themselves and each other. Other characters (especially Quentin) leave too much room for interpretation and are there, but ultimately do not contribute to the development of the plot. They are all tragic in their own way, but only superficially so. Each character has their own story, their own trauma, and their own fate, but each character would need their own book to properly deal with all of this and not just skim over it. Coco Mellors does a poor job of addressing the problems of each individual and illuminating them in a light that does them justice. The wounds of each character are opened, but then not treated with the necessary sensitivity. At best, a small plaster is put on the metaphorical stab wound, but the reader does not get more. It was a very frustrating experience and from halfway through I prayed on every third page for a quick end to my reading experience. The novel presents itself as a shimmering, profound love story between a successful middle-aged man and a nearly childlike artist, but brings the reader nothing but pain. Not even because the story is so tragic, but because it just drags on. What one must credit Coco Mellors with is that she achieves her goal. People talk about her book, it stays in the mind for a long time and one thinks a lot about it, as each of these characters leaves a strange feeling in the stomach. Her writing style is also very appealing and especially graphic. She has certainly mastered "show, don't tell" as few others have. If she now also creates a story that does not claim to be something it is not, I can certainly imagine reading something from her again. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment

anh_read's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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While the novel centers around the relationship/marriage between Cleo and Frank, it also depicts its impact on their surroundings. As the novel follows a different character in each chapter, the reader gets a more in-depth look into their relationship

Therefore, the reader gets a better understanding why things didn’t work out between Cleo and Frank.

 

As I am not a big fan of romance novels, I am relieved that this novel didn’t turn out to be a typical and cheesy love story. Moreover, if you like Sex and the city, it definitely catches the vibe - just in a darker manner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Violence, Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Sexual harassment

saskiasreading's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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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I didn’t like how it jumped from character to character. I didn’t care about quinton or anders etc etc i wanted more of frank and cleo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship

emm4reads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

adaora_ble's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis