Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

268 reviews

calais_'s review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional funny 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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I thought this book was good but just CANNOT do age differences 😫 this man was 20 years her senior! Leonardo DiCarpiroass can leave.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship

lostpaperbacks's review against another edition

3.5

emotional sad 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

clarathromycin's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Toxic characters who are miserable in NYC.  Join the club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

komal_b's review against another edition

2.5

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really wanted to enjoy this! I think Coco mellors shows a lot of promise as a writer, however a lot of Cleopatra and Frankenstein fell flat for me. The book is largely character driven but there is little time for each individual character to show any development due to the frequent changing of perspectives.  In turn, they all become caricatures of themselves falling victim to predictable literary tropes. This coupled with the over-romanticising of mental illness made me struggle to finish the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship

sydneybedell's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective slow-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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Vomit

pizzapie68's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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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Mellors tells the story of a new couple and the people around them. Through multiple lenses, readers understand how all these people fit together and grow apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Toxic friendship

ynotlime's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship

konyino's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship

roxyyvette's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The most beautiful book I have read in 2022. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

rowander's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Best summed up in its own words: "it often seemed nothing very much was happening in [the story] until something startling and ireconsilable did." Very poignant, incredibly intense. The discussions of addiction are handled very well, but huge trigger warnings if you or someone you love is in active addiction. 

Edit: after thinking more for a few months I'm bumping this down. I was in too much shock at the ending to address it at the time, but...

I think Quentin was incredibly hard done by as a character. The absolute shock transition into meth addiction blew my mind and completely shook me. I think that might be because I found this book through searching for LGBT books, and the book description particularly focuses on Quentin gender identity - for that to be a very, very minor story line and for Quentin's character to be given such a dark ending. I also felt similar about Frank's sister, who's story line of entering a sugar baby/daddy relationship didn't have fruition until the end of the novel despite being another central part of the book description. It felt misleading, and very much in Quentin's case like a 'bury your gays' trope that I've sat uncomfortably with for a while now. I really don't recommend this book on those themes at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Transphobia, Death of parent, Dysphoria