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Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Suicide
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
The novel follows Cleo, a young British artist, and Frank, an older American ad man, who impulsively marry after a whirlwind romance in New York. What follows is an intimate, messy, and often bleak exploration of their relationship—and the web of people around them—as they each try to find themselves (or lose themselves) in love, ambition, addiction, and identity.
Now, my feelings about this book are... complicated. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. It’s very character-driven, which I usually enjoy, and Mellors really knows how to write interiority. There were moments—especially during Cleo’s depressive episodes—that hit way too close to home. But what kept me from fully loving it was the lack of character growth. These people felt real, but also kind of stuck in their own cycles, like they never really learned or changed.
If you're looking for something plot-heavy, this might not be for you. But if you’re into messy, melancholic stories with poetic writing and emotionally distant characters spiraling through life, this might just scratch that itch. It didn’t become a favorite for me, but I can totally see why it resonates with a lot of readers.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury
Dezember. Sie stand schon im Fahrstuhl als er Einstieg, er nickte ihr zu und schloss mit einem Rattern das Eisengitter...
- Cleopatra und Frankenstein, 1%
🎧 gehört als Hörbuch
Einerseits war dieses Buch eine berührende Liebesgeschichte gone traumatic.
Andererseits bildet es verschiedene Menschen, die in verschiedenen Beziehungen miteinander stehen ab, die teils problematisch sind, teils liebevoll.
Und dann ist die Geschichte auch Klischee beladen, aber durch den wundervollen Schreibstil kann man darüber hinwegsehen.
Cleo und Frank sind die titelgebenden Hauptfiguren, aber sie leben nicht isoliert, sondern man bekommt auch die Gedankenwelt der Menschen um sie herum mit. Dadurch entsteht ein schönes, rundes Bild. Was mir hier nicht so gefallen hat war, dass man von Cleo gefühlt nicht recht viel mehr POVs bekommt, als von so manch anderem Nebencharakter. Da hätte ich mir mehr erwartet, da Cleo ja immerhin eine Namensgeberin des Buches ist. Außerdem hätte ich gerne mehr darüber erfahren, was sich Cleo bei so manchen Aktionen gedacht hat (zB
Das Ende war
Ich fand es einfach super, dass Cleo und Frank sich normal über ihre beendete Beziehung unterhalten konnten, ohne großes Drama. Von dieser Sorte brauchen wir unbedingt mehr! Es gibt leider viel zu viele Beispiele in Filmen und Büchern, wo sich Ex-Partner auch lange nach der Trennung bis aufs Blut hassen, anstatt einfach zu versuchen drüber zu stehen und weiterzumachen.
Mein Lieblingscharakter war Cleo (Romes Version). Ich hatte wirklich den Eindruck, dass es ihr besser geht, dass sie heilt und sie es schaffen wird.
Von Zoe hätte ich gerne noch mehr erfahren, wie ging es mit ihr weiter?
Dass es für Frank so einfach war mit dem Trinken aufzuhören hat mich sehr überrascht. Meist braucht es bei sowas mehr Anläufe, und natürlich wissen wir nicht, ob Frank es nicht vor Beginn der Geschichte schon mal versucht hat oder er nach dem Ende nochmal rückfällig wird... Aber das Framing "er hat mit dem Trinken aufgehört, weil er ist jetzt in Eleonor verliebt" finde ich nicht nur unrealistisch und unauthentisch, sondern auch sehr problematisch. Jemand der jahre- oder jahrzehntelang Alkoholiker war, hört nicht so einfach auf, unfortunately that's not how the world works...
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Death of parent
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
Stating the obvious, the book flows like a river. The writing's great, descriptions' great yada yada yada...
Finished the book in 3 days. That says enough.
Now, the interesting stuff...
I found the main character insufferable, which is absolutely fine, characters do NOT have to be likeable, but Mellors tried SO hard to make her likeable by mentioning just how likeable she is (how convenient) which made me dislike her even more.
TW//
The book also features PRETTY heavy themes like alcoholism, drug abuse, animal cruelty, su!cide, self-h@rm, and the list goes on....without ever really diving into the complexity and complications of each struggle, thereby making the character's problems seem shallow (they are not!!!)
Along with having like a bazillion unnecessary characters, this, too, was unnecessary. Towards the end of the book, it felt as if Mellors was just throwing in as much trauma as she possibly can for that shocker effect. Unfortunately, that had a counter effect. It made me desensitised to much of the events in the novel.
traumatised characters ≠ unconditional sympathy
I've read books with way fewer events going on but had a much deeper attachment to the characters.
Frustratingly, this could have been such a good book....
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury