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Mellors writes in the modern style, I first encountered when I read “Girl. Woman. Other.” It’s pervasive, a book on my tbr list, “I’m a Fan” is also written in a similar style. Morally grey characters who make morally ambiguous decisions. Cheat on their partners, humiliate themselves in public and are never sober.
I can never read more than a couple of these books a year. They’re too modern. I prefer confronting my emotions through several layers of illusion. This one, was brilliant however.
The characters are well-crafted, written with such empathy that it’s easy to see yourself reflected back in them, even the bad bits. Frank’s story particularly resonated with me.
Theme exploration in this book felt like a caress. It felt like someone had dug deep underneath my defences and helped rearrange things. Finishing this felt like I’d shaken something out of a favourite coat. I understand myself better now.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria
Minor: Animal death
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Self harm, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol
P.S. THIS CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS 😅
Cleopatra and Frankenstine by CoCo Mellors
I started this book blindly, I had seen the cover on Lemon8 and loved it. Obviously I added it to my tbr and then soon after bought it on my kindle and omg do I wish this book was free on KIndle Unlimited because I’m kind of annoyed that I paid for it LOL (just me being dramatic about liking some parts but not the book as a whole). Now see I completely understand why Elenor was so crucial to Franks story but we did not need to know that much about her life. She’s boring, her dad died, she’s the reason Frank wanted to be better, all of the important things about her that make Frank fall for her could have easily fit into one maybe two chapters if you’re pushing it. But I didn’t need so many pages about her. Another thing is this book needs a small self harming warning ⚠️ fr, I mean the scene isn’t too graphic but the way Frank describes his experience and emotions with Cleo’s incident definitely hit the heart strings if you or anyone you know has been in a self harming situation. AND the way Cleo “processes” her mental situation with an installation for her art show for everyone to see and relive disgusted me and I completely understand the constant shift in Franks words with and about her. Other than that I hope Santiago and Dominique live the happiest and most fulfilled life together 🫶.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicide attempt
I kept waiting to read about the way that Cleo and Frank's relationship actually impacted their friends, but it never did!
It's just a variety of characters that somewhat link to Cleo and Frank, with a bunch of additional characters while mentioning a huge number of topics without exploring them much. The characters don't do much except drink and drugs.
The number of characters is huge, some are only mentioned briefly. I did not care for a single one, not even the main characters. They had no redeeming qualities, just really immature and self-absorbed and not developed well.
Shocked to discover it took 7 years to write! I did not enjoy this book, I cannot recommend it.
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol
Minor: Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Misogyny
The author does have a way of digesting hard themes with her easily flowing writing style, which made this book actually readable.
Wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but I am going to see what the author comes up with next 🪩⚡🤍
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol