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emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i liked this book but i think blue sisters was a stronger novel from coco mellors. if you like character driven stories, especially where the characters are kind of insane and unlikable you would probably enjoy this book. didn’t feel slow or boring at all, though my main gripe is that frank is such an unlikable character and i hated that he ended up with what i think is a happier ending than cleo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
I really like Coco Mellors writing style. I will say this book is very weird and it gets very dark in places but I enjoyed the multiple perspectives - it felt like we were watching a tv show and the side characters were given episodes too. I liked how it ended on a hopeful note but ooooooof. Very messy and the two main characters are extremely flawed and I was judging both of them HARD but I think part of the fun of reading this book is that you’re not doing it because you love the characters or their choices, you’re doing it in the hope that they will change.
I liked the switch to first person narrative for Eleanor - it was like a jolt when she was introduced that mixed up the story, and it also helped to differentiate her from the other characters who were already a part of Cleo/Frank’s lives at the beginning of the book. It also read more like diary entries which felt in touch with her character. It also made her feel more grounded than the other characters.
I liked the switch to first person narrative for Eleanor - it was like a jolt when she was introduced that mixed up the story, and it also helped to differentiate her from the other characters who were already a part of Cleo/Frank’s lives at the beginning of the book. It also read more like diary entries which felt in touch with her character. It also made her feel more grounded than the other characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Cursing, Transphobia, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
emotional
medium-paced
Well done but not my kind of book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
challenging
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
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
i loved and hated this book, not because of anything wrong with the writing but because the writing was so raw and the storyline and characters pissed me off. it was very realistic and unforgiving and that frustrated me. reminded me of normal people. i think every woman in their 20s should read it. the book demand reflection and empathy.
i think cleo is deeply relatable for anyone who's suffered with depression, emotional abuse and/or traumatic childhoods. i really do wish the best for her and i wish she had a truly supportive group of people around her.
as a lot of other people mentioned, it feels as though theres no resolution to a lot of the conflicts. its reslly frustrating but i think its quite realistic. a lot of times in life, you dont get the closure you want or deserve. life just keeps moving and you have to find your own ways of accepting the unjustness of it all.
key highlight is to simply avoid men like frank. even if he does change, it is not worth it at all. i wish there were stronger female characters but maybe thats the point. to highlight if there were stronger female characters and stronger friendship bonds, a lot of the context could have been avoided.
** spoilers below **
i dont think frank deserved happiness with eleanor, not after everything he did to cleo and moved on with eleanor without reconciling with cleo. but its realistic for a man to be what you need him to be only after you left him. and its frustrating and raw and painful for him to have moved on quicker even if he doesnt deserve it. but also pisses me off that eleanor could do that to a fellow woman. her telling frank to go to rome felt so virtue signalling. a lot of people say the feminism themes in the book come off as performative and i dont know how intentional the book really was meant to me but it feels intentional because i think in reality, people are very performative in their actions. i also think the performative part highlights the difficulties of abusive relationships and toxic power dynamics.
i think cleo is deeply relatable for anyone who's suffered with depression, emotional abuse and/or traumatic childhoods. i really do wish the best for her and i wish she had a truly supportive group of people around her.
as a lot of other people mentioned, it feels as though theres no resolution to a lot of the conflicts. its reslly frustrating but i think its quite realistic. a lot of times in life, you dont get the closure you want or deserve. life just keeps moving and you have to find your own ways of accepting the unjustness of it all.
key highlight is to simply avoid men like frank. even if he does change, it is not worth it at all. i wish there were stronger female characters but maybe thats the point. to highlight if there were stronger female characters and stronger friendship bonds, a lot of the context could have been avoided.
** spoilers below **
i dont think frank deserved happiness with eleanor, not after everything he did to cleo and moved on with eleanor without reconciling with cleo. but its realistic for a man to be what you need him to be only after you left him. and its frustrating and raw and painful for him to have moved on quicker even if he doesnt deserve it. but also pisses me off that eleanor could do that to a fellow woman. her telling frank to go to rome felt so virtue signalling. a lot of people say the feminism themes in the book come off as performative and i dont know how intentional the book really was meant to me but it feels intentional because i think in reality, people are very performative in their actions. i also think the performative part highlights the difficulties of abusive relationships and toxic power dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Graphic: Suicide attempt
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m left with an ashy taste in my mouth after finishing this book. The characters, each and every one, are so dislikable I struggled to read the entire book.
Mellors should know better than to describe darker skin tones by aligning them with foods, or describing Black hair as food. The Black characters in this book are caricatures and slotted into “best friend” or “wise older woman”. They only exist in the novel to help along the spellbindingly slow plots of the white peoples around them, and her portrait of Zoe is too underdeveloped to balance this out.
I almost DNRd at chapter 8, when Mellors introduced an entirely new character, perspective, and style of prose. It felt overly writerly and indulgent.
This book is about 70-90 pages too long, and focuses tightly on characters out of no where when they were mentioned a handful of times 100 pages earlier. The main protagonists Cleo and Frank are selfish egomaniacs in what I think Mellors felt was deeply human, but I found them cartoonish and lacking any dimension. The put-upon outlooks they both had were hard to endure. Mellors would often end a chapter with very little resolution, switching to a different character, and then move on from the conflict just by moving time forward. It wasn’t satisfying, and felt like Mellors really shied away from ever writing the necessary scenes into the book - the breakup, the divorce, the suicide attempt; the resolution of these catastrophic events told to the reader as bylines in another characters dialogue. It was infuriating and repetitive, which only came off as coy and cowardly writing. The shock values seemed to arise out of nowhere because the stakes for the characters were so low — she was building mountains out of molehills that led to volcanic eruptions without actual lava.
I’m left feeling odd and deeply unsatisfied after such a philosophical read.
Oh yeah - and an entire paragraph of naming the words for groups of animals; “a group of owls is a parliament. A group of emus is called a mob. A group of larks is called an exultation. A group of doves…” it went on so long I was 10 pages from finished and damn near tore the book in half.
Mellors should know better than to describe darker skin tones by aligning them with foods, or describing Black hair as food. The Black characters in this book are caricatures and slotted into “best friend” or “wise older woman”. They only exist in the novel to help along the spellbindingly slow plots of the white peoples around them, and her portrait of Zoe is too underdeveloped to balance this out.
I almost DNRd at chapter 8, when Mellors introduced an entirely new character, perspective, and style of prose. It felt overly writerly and indulgent.
This book is about 70-90 pages too long, and focuses tightly on characters out of no where when they were mentioned a handful of times 100 pages earlier. The main protagonists Cleo and Frank are selfish egomaniacs in what I think Mellors felt was deeply human, but I found them cartoonish and lacking any dimension. The put-upon outlooks they both had were hard to endure. Mellors would often end a chapter with very little resolution, switching to a different character, and then move on from the conflict just by moving time forward. It wasn’t satisfying, and felt like Mellors really shied away from ever writing the necessary scenes into the book - the breakup, the divorce, the suicide attempt; the resolution of these catastrophic events told to the reader as bylines in another characters dialogue. It was infuriating and repetitive, which only came off as coy and cowardly writing. The shock values seemed to arise out of nowhere because the stakes for the characters were so low — she was building mountains out of molehills that led to volcanic eruptions without actual lava.
I’m left feeling odd and deeply unsatisfied after such a philosophical read.
Oh yeah - and an entire paragraph of naming the words for groups of animals; “a group of owls is a parliament. A group of emus is called a mob. A group of larks is called an exultation. A group of doves…” it went on so long I was 10 pages from finished and damn near tore the book in half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt