CLEOPATRA AND FRANKENSTEIN by Coco Mellors
The debut novel of American author Coco Mellors comes with a lot of hype.
The debut novel of American writer Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein is a novel about people who tear each other apart in order to find the best versions of themselves. It is quintessentially New York - I truly don’t think this novel would be believable in any other city - and tells the story of Cleo and Frank.
They meet in an elevator outside a party, and before you know it, they’re married. There’s about 20 years gap in their ages, which was the first red flag to me - this is not a time in life where such an age gap usually works (there are always exceptions but those truly are exceptions). I must admit I found the pace between meeting and marriage a little too quick for me - one chapter - and how they came to that decision never felt super clear. This meant I felt the first third of the novel was a little slow - not only did I bristle at how these two people got from meeting to marriage by chapter two, the first stages of the relationship felt…a little dull. Neither of these characters are bad people, nor are either of them particularly engrossing. It just felt like a very New York story.
The second section of the book is where things really picked up and became interesting. It, of course, centres around the obvious - the relationship is struggling. Frank and Cleo clearly care for each other but they are at different life stages. That was always going to happen. How the story is told, however, in unexpected and, at times, shocking. The introduction of people in their circles into the crux of the story, including Frank’s sister and Cleo’s father and step-mother, really adds drama and complexity. By this time, I was hooked.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein takes a dramatic, tragic turn which was not unforeseeable but gut wrenching nonetheless. The relationship, inevitably, unravels. That’s not a spoiler - within a few pages of the book you can safely guess this match is unlikely to last. However, the way things tie up is genuinely beautiful and is a wonderful testament to the way people can continue to love, and show love, despite the way their relationships evolve. Despite the sadness, there was a maturity to it which I really liked. That, too, felt very New York.
I really liked Cleopatra and Frankenstein. I am glad I stuck with it when I first felt it was a bit slow and predictable. This is one for the readers of novels that provide a snapshot of life, rather than a rollercoaster.