Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Cleópatra e Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

312 reviews

fuitfortuna's review against another edition

3.25

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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none of these characters are likeable, they’re privileged and refuse to take accountability to an almost comical extent. mental illness and addiction is romanticised to hell and back and this is not an accurate portrayal of either of those things at all.

i had a problem with how cliche the characters were (ESPECIALLY quentin i did not like how they were portrayed whatsoever i would say it was borderline transphobic? borderline because i couldn’t grasp whether quentin was supposed to be trans coded or i don’t know it was all just very uncomfortable to read anything to do with quentin at all). there was far too much casual racism for some reason?? (realism? idk it was just odd). we had too many povs for most of them to just not matter or add anything to the story. 

the whole thing mostly survives off vibes if i’m being totally honest.

and yet. i liked it and i cannot explain why. although the characters were unlikeable cliches i always wanted to know what was going to happen next. i think this is a very marmite book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse

sabmanosa's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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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I think this is a good book, full of very unlikeable, almost cartoonish characters. Despite that, I was hooked onto the story, and the change in POVs was something I think worked for the book. Normally, I love hearing every thought, action etc. a character has when something big is happening, but in the case of this book (and other similar books, like Sally Rooney's), I thought the gaps and jumps worked, so that a longer, broader story could be told without clogging it up with too much drama. 

The change in writing style for Eleanor was jarring at first, but really made sense to me as I continued. It shows how different she was, how human, mundane, "average" compared to the rest of the people Cleo and Frank ran around with. I think that was an important distinction to make.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but I liked how their perspectives blended in finally. It was satisfying, in it's own way.

One thing that rubbed me the wrong way was

the way Quentin's character was treated. Though most of the characters were stereotypes, the way Quentin's storyline was treated felt very cruel. We only get one POV from him, we get to empathize with him, and then he's shown to go totally off the rails and is described in such a way that I feel like stereotypes LQBTQ+ folks. It was weird, and hearing about how his story "ended" in the last chapter off-handedly was a bit painful.

I don't think I came out of this really liking any of the characters, but I did like the story and where it took me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual harassment

nialiversuch's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Vomit

tanyawinanto's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent

beccamarriner's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

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I absolutely loved Mellors’ way of writing. I was totally hooked by every scene and every thought. She could write 100 books and it’s likely I would read them all. My only qualm with the book was the multiple perspectives. It’s never my favourite way of reading a book and in the case of cleopatra and Frankenstein, I feel like it left gaps in the story. I wanted to know the finer details in their marriage story that were omitted in favour of an event that was somewhat irrelevant.

I would’ve instead loved a book from about Cleo and Frank and their marriage. Then another book about Santiago moving to a new relationship following the death of his wife whilst his friends marriage is in turmoil. I’d need a whole series for Zoe where we read about her from the first spiritual class, to her sugar daddy’s to her own group. Even a book about Anders’ and how he moved to LA, struggled to maintain a relationship with his ex-stepson and got involved with his friends wife.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein was a good book but with Mellors’ storytelling, it could’ve been an all-consuming series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Self harm, Suicide

jfield351's review against another edition

4.5

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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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Very very interesting and strong read. i did really connect with what frank and cleo were going through because i am going through something similar unfortunately. it was beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol

tessjx's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

tilly0498's review against another edition

1.25

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Classism

xbernadette's review against another edition

3.0

dark funny sad 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: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Classism

itschelseaw's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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There were some passages that really took my breath away, especially in Eleanor’s POV. I thought the overall concept was unique, and the execution was wonderful! Showing Cleo and Frank’s lives for that year (and a half?) that they were married really wove an incredible portrait of them and a few of their friends.
There were times when Cleo felt a bit manic pixie dream girl-ish, but it also worked within the story that was being told (especially when it happened during Frank’s story parts).
I totally understand the hype around this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia