A review by brireading
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

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

2.5

i was really let down by this. the cover was so promising and the blurb was too. this book should be called cleopatra and frankenstein AND FRIENDS because of how much there was about their friends, but there wasn't enough about the two main characters. all i know about cleo is that she's young, she would love lana del rey, she paints?? but what does she paint ?...and what else????? frank reminds me of love island uk season 3 johnny (cleo is nowhere near camilla's level). and he's annoying too bc he's so immature

some parts of the novel just came out of nowhere for me-like cleo's s****** attempt? her moving to italy? where did this all come from. and the fact that we find out she moved to italy in ONE sentence and we're supposed to be like "oh yeah, okay, this makes sense!" NO!!!

also the author just looooves to use anaphoras. like she just learned to use them or something. when i used these writing my papers in middle and high school i felt so intelligent...but in this novel there's so many it falls flat asf each time imo

some parts made me giggle a little bit, but nothing to write home about 🤓

overall, the story could have been more focused on cleo and frank and less about the annoying and flat side characters
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