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A review by _honeydelarose
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“When the darkest part of you meet the darkest part of me, it creates light”
When i first set eyes on the book cover, it gave me the “no plot, just vibes” impression and true and funnily enough, it stayed with me throughout the whole my reading it period (but mind you it wasn’t all good). Sure, it perfectly encapsulates the early 2000s vibe of New York fuelled of parties, sex and drug but the plot was light and the writing is a bit chaotic with the writer just throwing out point of views of all characters on every chapter - it almost like watching a bad movie where it wants to put everything but achieves nothing.
When i first set eyes on the book cover, it gave me the “no plot, just vibes” impression and true and funnily enough, it stayed with me throughout the whole my reading it period (but mind you it wasn’t all good). Sure, it perfectly encapsulates the early 2000s vibe of New York fuelled of parties, sex and drug but the plot was light and the writing is a bit chaotic with the writer just throwing out point of views of all characters on every chapter - it almost like watching a bad movie where it wants to put everything but achieves nothing.
Gradually in the story, it is depicted that the main characters (Cleo and Frank) are a complex individuals that are toxic to each other but the plot that lead to the development is somehow non-existent. Also, the ‘woke’ undertone which is apparent in this book when these privileged, narcissistic New Yorker MC characters lashing out dialogues that touch on feminism, mental health, racism and other political/societal issues also feel too forced and pretentious that i cringed every single time i got to that part. The MCs are just
unlikeable that i actually rooted for them to just get destroyed by one another.
Yes, the writing is bad and the characters are unbearable with the book only gets better towards the ending but in a weird way, it still sucked me in because i kept wanting to see where it was going. An interesting read, nonetheless so i settled on a solid 3 out of 5.