A review by babsi_222
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

adventurous dark informative reflective tense slow-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

3.0

Spoilers!!!!
Soooo many ts songs reminded me of this book!!! 
Deeply flawed characters and toxic relationships. Everyone struggles. 
I Never liked Cleo and Frank‘s Relationship (i don’t like the age gap) and I don’t like them both that much. I like Cleo sometimes too, she can be relatable. The chapters are quite long but that didn’t bother me very much- the usual POV‘S are Cleo and Frank but you got like 1-2 chapters in the POV of Zoe, Eleanor, Quentin and Santiago
The two chapters that were Eleanor‘s POV i didn’t like, I don’t know why there were that many small paragraphs with stuff I don’t care about. Her and Frank‘s relationship was something I also never liked. A lot of things were predictable in this book but there were also plottwists so it’s fine if.
Quentin is very strange and I was always a bit scared of him tbh because he’s just so uncomfortable. I kneeew that Alex was bad for him tbh (I thought it was cute in the beginning in Quentin‘s POV but then in the other people‘s POV i saw the problematic)
I loveee Zoe. I think she was my fav person in the book. I could sympathies with her (more in the end not so much in the beginning) Santiago is I think the only unproblematic character in the book. I love him and I’m sooo happy for how his life‘s like now. 
My fav scene is the one where Audrey, Cleo and Zoe spend time together (p 82- 91) especially the part when they went home to Cleo‘s (i think) ❤️❤️❤️

Cleo:
+ an artist
+ a feminist that puts people in their place
+ „ you want credit for not leaving me? Are you joking? Sorry Frank, but you married me…“ (p261)
+ she has a smooth way of feeling and she feels so much 
- she complained about her pain when they had THAT fight but didn’t care about Frank‘s pin at all 
- in general made some poor ass arguments in that fight
- „Could it be? Are we back here again? At Frank pity party?“ (p261) HUGE L
- compared her trauma to Frank‘s 💀
- had an affair 

Frank:
+ changed for the better!
+ cares about Eleanor
+ finally cried in the end
+ supported Cleo financially 
+ super rich but then not too cocky
- a man
- killed their pet that they loved and lied about it
- bought an illegal pet
- had an affair 
- gave his sister money all the time 
- alcoholic for the most time of this book

Zoe:
+ has her struggles but powerful
+ sweet and kind
+ the whole thing with Jiro :))
+ the way she connected w Cleo
+ idk but her sexual struggles make her so much more sympathetic 
+ the scene were she layers on the ground next to Cleo (p 312) ❤️❤️
- asking her brother for money all the time
- doesn’t know how to spend money

„The parties, Sex, alcohol and drug use is so New York City aesthetic“…. Girl wtf no it’s literally not. 
„ everyone we know in NY is an addict, aren’t they?“ (p355) lol yeah they are. The way drugs are used in the book is sooooo bad holy shit especially like Quentin and Alex and stuff but actually they all. 

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