Cleopatra and Frankenstein: ‘Move over Sally Rooney: this is the hottest new book’ - Sunday Times

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the book perfectly captures the messiness and complexities of relationships in the modern world, especially what happens when the honeymoon phase starts to wear off and reality sets in. Yes, Mellors’ novel was an instant success, branded ‘hottest book of the year’ by Stylist and an instant Sunday Times Bestseller, which makes it hard to believe that this is in fact her first published novel. There is only one novel this reminded me of, and that’s Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls which portrayed New York in the 1940’s.

Young people, people with addictions, people with traumatic childhood experiences, whatever it may be.

either way I have come to realize that I adore SUFFERING through books, I want to become really fucking depressed by a book, I want to feel the urge to rip my heart out and stab it back in. Ultimately, this chance meeting between two strangers outside of a New Year’s Eve party changes everything, for better or worse. I did enjoy this debut novel - the evocation of New York as a setting is really well done (I’ve visited recently, so was. The two central characters are in two very different chapters of their life – Cleo has graduated with an arts degree and finds herself with very little to live on and a visa that is about run out, and Frank is still clinging onto his youthful abandonment while making a name for himself in advertising. A tender, devastating and funny exploration of love and friendship and the yearning for self-evisceration.

That kind of romance book makes me want to spew and my eyes will roll out my head if I don't pull them out first. She lived with her mother and yes, she had a father who was gravely ill, but she didn’t seek some sort of high and had this endearing sense of insecurity which I dare say most people could relate to.

If you can grip me that quickly, we're off to a good start, which is exactly what this book did (which is super rare for me!

Let me give you some context of how I came about the novel: to start with, I think I was more accustomed with the cover of this novel, than I was the actual content of it. i don't mind self-important nor self-indulgent novels but they need to actually bring something to the 'literary' table. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.If you're looking for a piece of literary fiction that plays with your emotions and takes you on an extreme rollercoaster that will have you high on life one minute and screaming and crying the next then this one is for you. Maybe because each chapter was concerning a different person, which I used to love but didn’t in this circumstance. I, like every vaguely creative young person, have multiple diagnoses, but my brain chemistry failures never include installing art with my self harmed body at the center for my loved ones to find, I will tell you that.

and i know that if i were to read cleopatra and frankenstein, i'd be left hungry and longing for a more substantial meal. It's the latest in a string of literary fiction pieces that I've read that feel aspirational to that title. I've noticed this book has been heavily and exhaustingly compared to Sally Rooney, which I think is irrelevant and definitely not something you should let influence your decision to read or not read the book. I sometimes loved, and sometimes hated all the characters in this one: the title pair who marry mere months after meeting, and their eccentric circle of pals. but most of all, it seems that the book is about the journey to discovering who you really are and what you really want - a journey which seems to never really be complete.When Cleo meets Frank, who is twenty years older than her, he offers her a chance for happiness for the first time in her life. deleted my old review because i was senselessly ranting, but i still do think this felt painfully self-indulgent, more so than the works of sally rooney – of which this book has been exhaustively compared to. It is thrilling to read a book that articles with nuance and compassion the way gender impacts every part of our lives.