Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

266 reviews

mookisbooks's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment

lailajm's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

lenadierie's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship

ktwoolen's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

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Tore me apart in the best way. I  love the reflective writing in this book and the raw depiction of human nature and relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

nreyno's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

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, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

dany_casimiro's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Check out the trigger warnings beforehand!

Long Story Short: New York in a whirlwind of art, sensible depictions of mental illness and heartbreak seasoned with a strong sense of irony.

Coco Mellors has terrific writing skills: each POV reads like being inside the character's mind, and the recurring humor never gets old. I particularly enjoyed the switching between Cleo and Frank and their friends and acquaintances. The pacing helped to maintain a constantly refreshed narrative while providing each character with the breathing time they needed to be explored and developed. This includes the city as well since we get the feeling that New York is always present, its lights glistering in the background.
Perfect for anyone who enjoys Sally Rooney's representation of toxic relationships looking for a more hardcore read! 


 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

zitronendrops's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Toxic friendship

virgcole398's review against another edition

challenging 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

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I don’t know what to rate this book. Some of the dialogue was great but Cleo & Frank were insufferable.  I loved Eleanor’s storyline and the relationship with her mother. Honestly, I wish the entire book was from her POV. However, the constant comparisons to how “beautiful” and “special” Cleo versus how “masculine” Eleanor was were depressing to read. Especially, given that Cleo is a blatant self-insert character. Don’t even get me started on how Mellors wrote the POC characters in this book. For instance: “She learned to dance like a Black American.” I beg your finest pardon? 🤨 It was all so fetishtic and…weird. Has Mellors ever interacted with any POC in real life?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Antisemitism

3rdeyeopen's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny reflective 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

Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship