Cleopatra and Frankenstein — Book Review
Coco Mellors
Contains Spoilers!
Cleo. and Frank. I have been reading about them and their complex relationship since 2 months. I have come to hate them, love them, hate them back. Here’s my review of the book -
Cleo is an anxious person who has suffered highly in life with her mother killing herself and her rough bond with her dad. She was never stable and she mentioned she was on anti-depressants because otherwise she couldn’t orgasm. But yeah for other reasons as well.
She is 24 and in New York, and just finished her masters in arts. She’s an artist, a young artist, full of trauma and hope. She has a few friends in life but she’s British so she’s not from America, she doesn’t feel like she belongs there.
Cleo doesn’t know herself, what she wants and what will give her happiness.
She’s loving but suffocatingly loving. She hurts people she love because she wants people to hurt with her.
She is clearly lonely while having friends by quoting “even my best friends are strangers”
Frank is a successful person in his 40s. Hes got the proud in his eyes for his hard work and he doesnt stop priding about his success. While being extremely materialistic and capitalist, hes also an alcoholic. He could walk into any party and easily embarrass people around him by his drinking. He surely embarrassed Cleo. Hes the man with the right amount of trauma for his toxic masculinity. His mom didnt let him cry, he had to start providing for his family sooner, he never built the emotional sanctity needed to hold relationships.
Cleo and Frank’s relationship was like a storm which gradually and eventually grew into a hurricane which slowly died down. Cleo’s need to depend on someone with money, stability, and care and frank’s enthusiasm to date a British artist 20 yrs younger than her made them the perfect couple. They did love each other but they ended up hurting each other the most.
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Cleo began becoming a person who didnt make art and was waiting for her husband to come home at night. Frank wanted to give Cleo everything he promised but Cleo was hard to please for long so he stopped committing to his promises. Cleo started to feel abandoned from Frank soon enough and began to pull him down as she was being pull down in earth.
Soon she spiralled and couldnt handle the loneliness. Whenever she looked for comfort from anyone, she was shot down. She couldnt remain happy just being married. She wanted something to drive her.
Frank on the other side met Eleanor and decided to give even less attention to Cleo.
The worst part of it all was Cleo wanted Frank to stop drinking so he could be with her and he did everything to save his marriage but stop drinking. He did eventually stop drinking but for Eleanor, which was like a gut punch to Cleo when she got to know.
I like the conclusion where Frank hates Cleo for the art installation that hes sure he made the right decision to divorce her BUT when asked about his close 5 people, he included Cleo, because he knew he had to give the security and confidence to Cleo that he is there for her even though she doesnt need him. Which makes me soft towards Frank because realistically, Cleo was toxic, her anger, her mood shifts were very unpredictable to Frank, not like he made an effort to understand but she was that spontaneous and utterly rude. Cleo and Frank were never made for each other because of their destructive patterns originating from their tough and traumatic childhood.
I hated Quentin. He was the worst influence on Cleo’s life. Always undermining her, never paid attention, so detached from reality. Glad that Cleo knew what kind of a person Quentin is.
I didnt like Zoe in the start because of her mean comments towards Cleo but when her character was explored, she came out to be a struggling teenager who just got a lot of freedom and didnt know how to use it. I like how she came around for Cleo in the end.
I liked Eleanor a lot. She was funny but not cringe. She knew what was healthy for her and people around her. She was the ground for Frank which made him still.
Frank was lucky to have Eleanor.
I like the fact that women always came around for each other, no one judged and even if they did, they were together. A sisterhood I cannot imagine between such dynamic relationships.
This novel was a crooked ride about how messy and unsolvable relationships can be. How real life, people live, dissecting it.
5/5
Do I recommend? Hell Yeah
