A review by cosycourtney
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

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

3.75

This book felt very smart to me? I’m not sure if that will make sense to others but Coco Mellors is clearly an incredible writer who can write a bloody book. It was so digestible but also packed SO much culture and life. I really enjoyed reading it and I was very invested in the lives of Cleo and Frank but I feel like because I read it so quickly I missed the cherry on top of the charm ice cream. That is simply my own fault and my own tastes and no criticism on the book itself truthfully. The way Mellors wrote her characters was really magical. I pictured them SO easily. Frank IS Berlin from Money Heist and after a little stalk I think Cleo is Coco (in the sense that she is ethereally beautiful). The book was so nuanced that if you aren’t reading closely (which as times perhaps I wasn’t) you miss things. I’d be 3 pages into a chapter and think WAIT I missed something and I had to flick back. I think that readers might take issue with that but I sometimes enjoy when books are so good beyond what my brain is capable of recognizing at a time. I found the start and the end the strongest and I really enjoyed Eleanor’s chapters. The way the form changed was a great writing device to separate her from the rest of the group. This IS a book of the moment; one to be read while on the hype train. You should read it now or you’ll get FOMO for sure. 
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