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jordkuba's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very good book, well written and nice to read. Unfortunately, it contained a number of topics that difficult for me. That somewhat diminished my enjoyment. I'm sure I could have liked it more at a different time in my life .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Dementia, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Violence, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Dysphoria
thetainaship's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
milanaradic's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Drug abuse
avasreads_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cleopatra and frankenstein, coco mellors
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/5
what a book to get me out of my reading slump! i haven't read a full length novel in a couple of months, and this one was kind of perfect for the occasion.
cleopatra and frankenstein follows the impulsive marriage between 24-year-old cleo and 43-year-old frank, to, broadly, secure cleo a green card. their marriage (inevitably) has far-reaching consequences, and the novel explores themes such as loss, complex relationships and addiction.
this beautifully vivid portrayal of the new york of the early 2000s makes me feel nostalgic for a time i don't remember, and the central characters lead a glamorous life of art, culture, drink and drugs. i loved how the characters felt painfully real - although the plot, at times, seemed almost unbelievable, readers recognise that they lead a ridiculous life. almost certainly backed up by a hefty trust fund, many of the characters don't seem to be burdened by student loans, paying the rent and bills, and can therefore gallivant around new york city. despite the perhaps unrealistic lack of financial struggles, this places emphasis on the mental and emotional journeys of the characters, which is objectively far more important. the characters are far from simple, and can be perceived to be both protagonists and antagonists, having both a positive and negative impact on each other. i love the unrealistic realism, it gives the novel an ethereal quality.
for me, the most interesting storyline was that of zoe's, the younger sister of frank. she is broke, nineteen years old and navigating a large city. i seemed to identify with her, whether that's because we are similar in age or i deeply sympathise with her and her situation i don't know. i hope she is happy, she deserves the world 🤍
it certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, and definitely feeds into the 'sad girl' trope (i was delighted with the lana reference, or just delusional). regardless, i ate this the fuck up.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/5
what a book to get me out of my reading slump! i haven't read a full length novel in a couple of months, and this one was kind of perfect for the occasion.
cleopatra and frankenstein follows the impulsive marriage between 24-year-old cleo and 43-year-old frank, to, broadly, secure cleo a green card. their marriage (inevitably) has far-reaching consequences, and the novel explores themes such as loss, complex relationships and addiction.
this beautifully vivid portrayal of the new york of the early 2000s makes me feel nostalgic for a time i don't remember, and the central characters lead a glamorous life of art, culture, drink and drugs. i loved how the characters felt painfully real - although the plot, at times, seemed almost unbelievable, readers recognise that they lead a ridiculous life. almost certainly backed up by a hefty trust fund, many of the characters don't seem to be burdened by student loans, paying the rent and bills, and can therefore gallivant around new york city. despite the perhaps unrealistic lack of financial struggles, this places emphasis on the mental and emotional journeys of the characters, which is objectively far more important. the characters are far from simple, and can be perceived to be both protagonists and antagonists, having both a positive and negative impact on each other. i love the unrealistic realism, it gives the novel an ethereal quality.
for me, the most interesting storyline was that of zoe's, the younger sister of frank. she is broke, nineteen years old and navigating a large city. i seemed to identify with her, whether that's because we are similar in age or i deeply sympathise with her and her situation i don't know. i hope she is happy, she deserves the world 🤍
it certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, and definitely feeds into the 'sad girl' trope (i was delighted with the lana reference, or just delusional). regardless, i ate this the fuck up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
lauraloren's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
cleotheo's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Blood, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide and Dementia
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Racism
saskiasreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.25
I didn’t like how it jumped from character to character. I didn’t care about quinton or anders etc etc i wanted more of frank and cleo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal death, Alcoholism, Dementia, Eating disorder, Self harm, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Infidelity
djenkin96's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really struggled to read this book, which was a shame after so many recommendations. I felt that things were often repeated. The author kept eluding to Cleo being like cleopatra, beautiful and captivating, however every descriptor she used made her sound odd looking. I found some parts the writer had gone into depth and created great back stories but then abandoned them with no further mention.
At the end I didn't feel like Cleo actually changed or developed as a character ? But the writer emphasises she has by new artwork. All in all I did not find myself wanting to finish it, more to move on to something else.
At the end I didn't feel like Cleo actually changed or developed as a character ? But the writer emphasises she has by new artwork. All in all I did not find myself wanting to finish it, more to move on to something else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Abandonment, Animal death, Eating disorder, and Alcoholism
maddalenacesco's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
2.75
Thing I liked the most about this book: unlikeable characters.
Thing I liked the least about this book: unlikeable characters.
Unlikeable characters are so beloved, and most importantly, work, because you understand and internalize their psyche. They force a moral conflict inside of you, you catch yourself rooting for people who do bad stuff.
I’ll give props to this book as the author is not afraid to allow them to make mistakes, nor tries to enforce the idea that you’re supposed to like certain people (although you kind of get the idea that the “Cleopatra” of the title is supposed to be the victim and that you should feel sorry for her), but there’s not an instance where you actually feel for any of them.
My main issue with this book is the characters.
Sometimes you are first told about the background of a character.
In these cases, I could predict how they’d be in their relationships with others and with themselves before the getting-to-know-them part, because said character acted perfectly in line with their background.
Other times, you are presented with the character first and then get an insight of their past. Same thing: I could figure out where their issue came from quickly.
Let’s take the chef Santiago for example: we are told he’s a successful chef in New York and that he has lost his wife, whom he loved very much, years before.
Having only been given these facts, I can guess:
- Santiago’s grief has taken a toll on his mental health - with a stretch, I could predict it might have something to do with food (such as an e.d.)
- Santiago might have problems with intimacy
- Santiago’s storyline will follow his pursue to reaffirm himself after the loss of his wife
Thing is, people are made of contradictions, they never follow the straight line you think they will; identical backgrounds cause some to become better, others to become worse.
Due to this predictability, I often found the characters to be stereotypes:
- Cleo: struggling but extremely talented artist, beautiful, object of the desire of rich older men, rough upbringing, depressed
- Frank/Anders (I paired them up because they’re the same person): handsome, very successful businessman, in his forties, womanizer, addict, in love with Cleo
- Eleonor: cynical, still lives with her mother, low self-esteem.
Cleo’s hippie stepmom embodies the stereotype of the self-obsessed, dizzy yoga mom. Why not throw a bit of intrigue there? She has a PHD. She actually loves Cleo. She was suspected of a murder. I don’t know.
I understand that the goal was to explore the psyche of the average individual, but this should imply making normality exceptional; that is how we experience reality, by seeing mediocrity as a fabric made of overlapping threads of feelings, fears, hopes and doubts, not as a flat wooden board. I’m not saying the characters should be exceptional, but that exceptionability should lie in their banality.
Showing Cleo had unloving parents allows me to understand why she seeks love and why she is a people pleaser, but it feels like a way to make me care about her. Pity is not a substitute for love.
You can’t care about the fate of a character if you don’t know what they want their fate to be.
The tragedy of a character lies in the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
It doesn’t have to be something extreme (nor explicit), such as: Cleo wants to murder her stepmom. It can also be: Cleo wants to make is as an artist, or Cleo wants all the men in her life to be in love with her. If I know where Cleo wants to be, I’ll be hooked to her story.
I was very excited by the prospect of many different points of view, but it kinda disappointed me, because how is it possible that the character appear to others exactly like they appear to themselves?
It doesn’t help with the lack of suspence.
Ex:
Santiago seems to like Cleo.
Santiago actually likes Cleo.
When it comes to unreliable characters, you expect them to lie to themselves, to justify their motifs, to be different to what they appear, to manipulate the truth.
The characters do bad things, yes, but the sole fact that we are given explanations (such as a description of their upbringing) is an indication they are not flat out bad people.
If I’m not an inherently evil individual (which goes against the premise of this book) I can self sabotage, but I’ll find ways to justify, if not most, a least some of my actions.
If I didn’t receive the love I needed from my father and I seek relationships with older men, cheating on my husband will be a pattern, not an isolated case. And before I can recognize why I follow this pattern, I probably won’t have the objectivity to identify the cause in my childhood, but I’ll try to justify it: my husband doesn’t give me the attention I feel I deserve/I feel trapped in my relationship/I’m lonely.
My last issue is with the relationships: Relationships are the foundation of this book, so why don’t we ever have a chance to actually see them growing? We have glimpses of pivotal moments, we are handed pre-existing friendships, we cannot savor the building of trust and intimacy that comes from simple daily interaction.
The writing was really good, I enjoyed it. Ironically, that's the main issue: I can't give 3 stars when I know you can easily reach 5. I liked the descriptions of New York. If the characters hadn’t had as much potential as they had or the writing was a little less good, I would’ve let it slide, but I expect more where I know there can be.
Also, the first dialogue was a little too fan fiction-ish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Infidelity, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
solspringsreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but I definitely wish I’d known about several big trigger warnings that were complete shocks to me (including multiple graphic animal deaths and transphobia that results in violence—I had no clue that this book involved animals OR queer people before reading). These missing warnings didn’t negatively impact my reading of the book, but they feel symptomatic of what is maybe a larger issue I had with the book: there were a lot of scenes that felt maybe gratuitously violent/detailed in a way that was almost unnecessary for the actual plot.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein is pretty much what it says on the tin (and the plot summary): a book about a couple with a large age gap who are both deeply flawed individuals, and the ways their relationship affects the people in their lives as well as how their lives are affected in turn. I didn’t expect this book to have shifting perspectives in each chapter and to focus so heavily on characters aside from the two titular protagonists, but I actually found myself preferring the chapters that gave us insight into the larger context of Cleo and Frank’s relationship. Although I wish I could get more context for certain characters and the changes in their lives, it almost felt true to life: sometimes the people you care about extremely deeply will have major life changes that you know almost nothing about, and you don’t get closure. This also felt like it was reflective of how self-absorbed Cleo and Frank were, in that their friends like Quentin and Zoe were going through some significant life changes and crises of their own, but by the end of the book we get little to no information on the outcomes of these events. From a realism standpoint, this was amazing… but from a reader’s standpoint, I definitely felt sad that the most of an ending I could get for my favorite characters was “They hopefully aren’t dead in a ditch.” On the other hand, during each characters’ respective chapter, we got a significant amount of insight into their personal lives with only limited references to the titular characters in a way that felt kind of unnecessary to the plot; sure, I get that pointing out the irony of an overweight culinary master who’s on a pretty strict diet is Fun Social Commentary™ and the fact that Cleo and Frank barely know about this characters’ struggle or reference it during their chapters is reflective of their self-involvement, but like… again, as a reader, part of me feels like these scenes are such unnecessary tangents to the protagonists’ actual character arcs. Most of the changes and “growth” that Cleo and Frank have and go through feel random and unearned, like the novel has to explicitly tell us that they’ve changed because we spent so much time focusing on Anders’s strained relationship with his son.
Relatedly, the dialogue in this book gets kinda silly. I listened to the audiobook so my impressions of certain scenes might be very different than those of a reader of a physical copy, but there were several bits of dialogue that had me rolling my eyes. Chapter 13 is one particularly example of this issue: somehow, the dialogue between Cleo and Frank felt simultaneously too realistic and too forced, like the author couldn’t decide if she wanted to capture what arguments were actually like (including the awkward pauses, the ways people cut each other off) or what arguments felt like (focusing on the inner turmoil of each character between the lines or the minute cues of body language to show how they feel). The characters constantly talked around their issues, which is again, true to life, but unfortunately the nothing-dialogue can lead to some pretty lackluster “big fight” scenes.
There are lots of stereotypes abound in a way that is almost maybe social commentary until you look up the author and see that she is a conventionally attractive cis blonde woman and suddenly you go, “Wow, this is a book that has a lot of transphobia during the narration from a character who is heavily implied if not outright stated to be a trans woman, and while it’s positioned in a way that feels like it’s supposed to be representative of internalized transphobia, this does maybe feel weird in the broader context of this being a book about the relationship between two flawed mostly-heterosexual cisgender people!” Likewise, LOTS of really random comments about race and ethnic stereotypes that feel like they should maybe be satire except that they’re completely unchallenged… or challenged in a way that the book immediately mocks. Maybe there’s an argument that the book as a whole is satirical, and while it does have moments where that feels clear, it often clumsily treads the fine line between making fun of stereotypes and perpetuating those same stereotypes.
Despite everything, though, I was totally wrapped up in this book. I binged the whole audiobook during a knitting-induced frenzy (which resulted in an all-nighter) and still felt so awed by how beautiful certain parts of the prose sounded, especially during Santiago and Eleanor’s chapters, and the philosophical ideas explored during Zoe’s chapters. I became emotionally invested in these somewhat stereotypical characters for an evening, and I truly do feel like there are moments and scenes from this book that will stay with me even now that I’ve finished it.
Overall, this was a pretty standard entry in the subcategory of litfic about beautiful yet waifish blondes who do a lot of drugs in New York and feel miserable about the older men and so-called friends with which they surround themselves. Somehow, the hype is completely understandable and yet overdone in a way that’s to be expected for this type of novel. (There’s always hype around books about sad beautiful women with addictions living in big cities, even if those books are mostly the same.) Despite my many criticisms and the fact that this book isn’t particularly unique in its plot or commentary, I still mostly enjoyed this and would (VERY VERY tentatively and with many caveats and warnings) recommend this to others, if only to discuss some of the things I might take issue with in the book.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein is pretty much what it says on the tin (and the plot summary): a book about a couple with a large age gap who are both deeply flawed individuals, and the ways their relationship affects the people in their lives as well as how their lives are affected in turn. I didn’t expect this book to have shifting perspectives in each chapter and to focus so heavily on characters aside from the two titular protagonists, but I actually found myself preferring the chapters that gave us insight into the larger context of Cleo and Frank’s relationship. Although I wish I could get more context for certain characters and the changes in their lives, it almost felt true to life: sometimes the people you care about extremely deeply will have major life changes that you know almost nothing about, and you don’t get closure. This also felt like it was reflective of how self-absorbed Cleo and Frank were, in that their friends like Quentin and Zoe were going through some significant life changes and crises of their own, but by the end of the book we get little to no information on the outcomes of these events. From a realism standpoint, this was amazing… but from a reader’s standpoint, I definitely felt sad that the most of an ending I could get for my favorite characters was “They hopefully aren’t dead in a ditch.” On the other hand, during each characters’ respective chapter, we got a significant amount of insight into their personal lives with only limited references to the titular characters in a way that felt kind of unnecessary to the plot; sure, I get that pointing out the irony of an overweight culinary master who’s on a pretty strict diet is Fun Social Commentary™ and the fact that Cleo and Frank barely know about this characters’ struggle or reference it during their chapters is reflective of their self-involvement, but like… again, as a reader, part of me feels like these scenes are such unnecessary tangents to the protagonists’ actual character arcs. Most of the changes and “growth” that Cleo and Frank have and go through feel random and unearned, like the novel has to explicitly tell us that they’ve changed because we spent so much time focusing on Anders’s strained relationship with his son.
Relatedly, the dialogue in this book gets kinda silly. I listened to the audiobook so my impressions of certain scenes might be very different than those of a reader of a physical copy, but there were several bits of dialogue that had me rolling my eyes. Chapter 13 is one particularly example of this issue: somehow, the dialogue between Cleo and Frank felt simultaneously too realistic and too forced, like the author couldn’t decide if she wanted to capture what arguments were actually like (including the awkward pauses, the ways people cut each other off) or what arguments felt like (focusing on the inner turmoil of each character between the lines or the minute cues of body language to show how they feel). The characters constantly talked around their issues, which is again, true to life, but unfortunately the nothing-dialogue can lead to some pretty lackluster “big fight” scenes.
There are lots of stereotypes abound in a way that is almost maybe social commentary until you look up the author and see that she is a conventionally attractive cis blonde woman and suddenly you go, “Wow, this is a book that has a lot of transphobia during the narration from a character who is heavily implied if not outright stated to be a trans woman, and while it’s positioned in a way that feels like it’s supposed to be representative of internalized transphobia, this does maybe feel weird in the broader context of this being a book about the relationship between two flawed mostly-heterosexual cisgender people!” Likewise, LOTS of really random comments about race and ethnic stereotypes that feel like they should maybe be satire except that they’re completely unchallenged… or challenged in a way that the book immediately mocks. Maybe there’s an argument that the book as a whole is satirical, and while it does have moments where that feels clear, it often clumsily treads the fine line between making fun of stereotypes and perpetuating those same stereotypes.
Despite everything, though, I was totally wrapped up in this book. I binged the whole audiobook during a knitting-induced frenzy (which resulted in an all-nighter) and still felt so awed by how beautiful certain parts of the prose sounded, especially during Santiago and Eleanor’s chapters, and the philosophical ideas explored during Zoe’s chapters. I became emotionally invested in these somewhat stereotypical characters for an evening, and I truly do feel like there are moments and scenes from this book that will stay with me even now that I’ve finished it.
Overall, this was a pretty standard entry in the subcategory of litfic about beautiful yet waifish blondes who do a lot of drugs in New York and feel miserable about the older men and so-called friends with which they surround themselves. Somehow, the hype is completely understandable and yet overdone in a way that’s to be expected for this type of novel. (There’s always hype around books about sad beautiful women with addictions living in big cities, even if those books are mostly the same.) Despite my many criticisms and the fact that this book isn’t particularly unique in its plot or commentary, I still mostly enjoyed this and would (VERY VERY tentatively and with many caveats and warnings) recommend this to others, if only to discuss some of the things I might take issue with in the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Gore, Abandonment, Classism, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Dysphoria, Outing, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Sexism, Infidelity, and Alcohol