Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Cleopatra en Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

35 reviews

pv_789's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual violence

jenni_bear's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was horrific but beautiful; reading it will make you judge a stranger differently than before <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Sexual content

aleilvandrea's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Sexual content, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

Moderate: Classism, Gore, Abandonment, and Grief

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, Ableism, and Antisemitism

annemarijequartel's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

It read away very easy, but the characters and their relationships lacked depth. Too many character POV’s with too little description of how they became the way they are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

moonbeamdmercutio's review against another edition

I was pushing my way through the audiobook. Wonderful narration but I can not stand the story, writing, characters, etc. Just used it as white noise while going about my day without an issue until the story strayed from Cleo and Frank (yknow, the titular characters) and started focusing on the stereotypical gay guy who apparently only cares about fashion and sex. Could ignore the downright terrible depiction of gay men until the author decides to throw in an unnecessary "orgy" scene? Couldn't get through two minutes of it. Corny writing. Bad characters. Offensive. Cannot imagine myself ever enjoying this book, in audio or physical format. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Sexism

huge age gap (approximately 20 or more years)

ilolijiniie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

aestinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'm slightly biased on my review because this story really hit home for me. It was too painful for me to even pick it up again after a year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

katieanne01's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual content, Misogyny, Deportation, Gore, Toxic friendship, Blood, Infidelity, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

mariaminthebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

I'm torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars. Let's settle for 3.5/5 

Stating the obvious, the book flows like a river. The writing's great, descriptions' great yada yada yada...

Finished the book in 3 days. That says enough.

Now, the interesting stuff...

I found the main character insufferable, which is absolutely fine, characters do NOT have to be likeable, but Mellors tried SO hard to make her  likeable by mentioning just how likeable she is (how convenient) which made me dislike her even more. 

TW// 

The book also features PRETTY heavy themes like alcoholism, drug abuse, animal cruelty, su!cide, self-h@rm, and the list goes on....without ever really diving into the complexity and complications of each struggle, thereby making the character's problems seem shallow (they are not!!!) 

Along with having like a bazillion unnecessary characters, this, too, was unnecessary. Towards the end of the book, it felt as if Mellors was just throwing in as much trauma as she possibly can for that shocker effect. Unfortunately, that had a counter effect. It made me desensitised to much of the events in the novel. 

traumatised characters ≠ unconditional sympathy

I've read books with way fewer events going on but had a much deeper attachment to the characters.

Frustratingly, this could have been such a good book....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Chronic illness, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt