An ensemble beyond the central couple
Mellors explains that the novel is not just about Cleo and Frank, but focuses on an entire group of friends and family whose lives are altered by the marriage.
Reviewed
Read Time
9 min read
Age & reading levelAdult
Reader rating
4.2 · 13,599 Amazon ratings
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Our review
Cleopatra and Frankenstein
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors Review: A Glittering, Uneven Debut Novel
by Coco Mellors
Coco Mellors' debut novel follows Frank, a successful Manhattan ad executive with a worsening drinking problem, and Cleo, an aspiring British painter twenty years his junior, who meet on New Year's Eve and are married six months later — a whirlwind union that slowly unravels under the weight of infidelity, addiction, and unresolved childhood wounds. Published by Bloomsbury, the novel is both an intimate portrait of a damaged marriage and a satirical panorama of downtown New York's creative class. Publishers Weekly called it "involving if strained," while the Evening Standard described being "intensely consumed" by its world — a tension that captures the book's essential duality: genuinely magnetic at its core, inconsistent at its edges.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers drawn to emotionally charged relationship fiction set against a vividly rendered urban backdrop — especially those who loved Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends and want a novel that treats addiction, grief, and marital unravelling with candor rather than sentimentality.
Worth it if
The central relationship's sustained chemistry and the novel's unflinching handling of addiction and mental illness are enough to carry you through its structural unevenness.
Skip if
Readers who need a tightly controlled ensemble cast and consistent satirical tone may find the scattered threads and caricature-leaning supporting characters a genuine distraction.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews awarded the novel a starred review, calling it "a canny and engrossing rewiring of the big-city romance," while Publishers Weekly found it "involving if strained," noting that an "enticing aura glows at this work's heart" even as the satirical portrait of New York life too often reads like caricature. The LA Times praised the novel's socioeconomic texture and deliberate narrative structure but flagged that many supporting characters carry "origin stories and ethnicities that do too much of the work of explaining who they are."
“Mellors dissects the tumultuous relationship between two magnetic and damaged people … an enticing aura glows at this work's heart.”
— Publishers Weekly4.2from 13,599 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Cleopatra and Frankenstein is Coco Mellors' debut novel about Cleo, an aspiring British painter, and Frank, a Manhattan ad executive twice her age, whose whirlwind marriage unravels under the weight of infidelity, addiction, and unresolved childhood wounds against the backdrop of downtown New York's creative class. The central relationship is the novel's undeniable engine — rendered with chemistry and emotional candor that justifies its devoted readership — though the satirical ensemble around it too often tips into caricature and the multi-threaded tone can feel scattered. Readers who respond to emotionally charged, socially observed relationship fiction in the vein of Sally Rooney will find it a rewarding if imperfect debut.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers drawn to emotionally charged relationship fiction, Cleopatra and Frankenstein is well worth the investment. The central marriage between Cleo and Frank is rendered with enough warmth, specificity, and candor that its eventual unraveling carries genuine weight, and the character of Eleanor — a screenwriter drawn into Frank's orbit — stands out as a particular highlight, with Publishers Weekly noting that her sections 'achieve the mix of wit, pathos, and romance the rest strives to attain.' The Evening Standard described being 'intensely consumed' by the book's world, and it became a national bestseller and Goodreads Choice Award finalist. The key caveat is tonal unevenness: the satirical supporting cast too often tips into caricature, and readers who prefer tightly controlled ensemble fiction may find those rough edges genuinely distracting.
- Similar books
- Readers who connected with Cleopatra and Frankenstein will find natural companions in several directions. Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends shares its preoccupation with relationship dynamics, millennial class anxiety, and the damage intimacy causes — early coverage made the comparison explicitly. For addiction rendered with similar unflinching candor, Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead offers a powerful counterpart, following the devastation of substance dependency on a young life. Jennette McCurdy's Half His Age overlaps on the significant age-gap relationship and the psychological baggage both partners bring. For those drawn to the ensemble marital panorama, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation both map the slow erosion of a marriage with literary precision, while Mellors' own follow-up, Blue Sisters, continues her exploration of grief and addiction.
- Who should read this?
- Cleopatra and Frankenstein is best suited to readers of emotionally charged literary fiction who want their relationship drama grounded in social observation and psychological honesty. Those who responded to Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends — or to novels that treat addiction and grief with directness rather than sentimentality — will find the most to love here. Readers who enjoy the texture of a specific urban milieu (downtown Manhattan's creative class, circa 2007 and beyond) will appreciate how thoroughly Mellors makes socioeconomic contradiction part of her subject. Those who prefer tightly controlled ensembles or consistent satirical tone should proceed with tempered expectations.
- About Coco Mellors
- Coco Mellors is a British writer known for her work in fiction and various writing roles, including copywriting, journalism, and scriptwriting.
- What are the main themes?
- Cleopatra and Frankenstein weaves together several interlocking themes: addiction and the way it warps relationships (Frank's alcoholism is central to the marriage's unraveling); inherited trauma (Frank's emotionally distant alcoholic mother and Cleo's mother's suicide by suicide both shadow the couple's dynamic); infidelity and the carelessness that erodes intimacy over time; and class performance within New York's creative elite, where even struggling artists are cushioned by safety nets. Waterstones described the novel as simultaneously 'a great, swooning love story,' 'a shattering depiction of how addiction and mental illness warp our lives,' and 'a perceptive, witty portrait of globalized New York' — a summary that captures the thematic range Mellors is attempting.
- Is it a good book club pick?
- Cleopatra and Frankenstein makes a strong book club selection, offering multiple angles for discussion: the ethics of the age-gap marriage, the structural choice to skip the courtship entirely (which the LA Times called a deliberate narrative statement about how 'a marriage has set or curdled'), the portrayal of addiction and inherited trauma, and the question of whether the supporting cast functions as sharp satire or thin caricature. The novel's unevenness — praised by some as rich and scattered by Publishers Weekly as 'a bit scattered' — is itself a productive debate. Its status as a national bestseller and Goodreads Choice Award finalist means many members may already have encountered it, which often sparks livelier conversation.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Coco Mellors
What are the main themes?
Is it a good book club pick?
Summarize this book
Cleopatra and Frankenstein opens on New Year's Eve 2007, when Cleo — a beautiful, aspiring British painter — meets Frank, an award-winning Manhattan advertising executive twenty years her senior, in an elevator 90 minutes before midnight. Mellors fast-forwards past their courtship to their wedding day six months later, then charts the slow unraveling of their marriage through resentment, infidelity, and the childhood damage both carry: Frank's mother was an emotionally distant alcoholic; Cleo's died by suicide. The novel unfolds episodically across a wide cast of creative strivers, trust-fund wanderers, and downtown Manhattan elites, building what Waterstones called 'a perceptive, witty portrait of globalized New York' alongside a shattering portrait of how addiction and mental illness warp the people we love.
Follow up
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How long is it?
Where and when is it set?
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Our Review
We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.
A novel of real emotional pull that earns its devoted readership even as its satirical ambitions sometimes overreach.
What the Novel Is and What It Does
Back cover with synopsis, review quotes, author biography, and photograph.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein opens on New Year's Eve 2007, when Cleo — a beautiful, blond, aspiring British painter — meets Frank, an older, award-winning advertising executive, in an elevator 90 minutes before midnight. Their quick-witted exchange becomes dinner and flirtation, and Mellors fast-forwards to their wedding day just six months later.
As the Los Angeles Times noted, this temporal leap is a deliberate narrative choice: courtship is rendered as a "heedless blur, the details only coming into focus once a marriage has set (or curdled)." The novel then charts what comes next — resentment, infidelity, carelessness, and the childhood damage both carry into the marriage.
Frank's mother was an emotionally distant alcoholic; Cleo's died by suicide. Their intoxicating chemistry keeps them together even as those unresolved histories work steadily against them.
The structure is episodic, with chapters that introduce a wide cast of supporting characters drawn from the couple's orbit: creative strivers, trust-fund wanderers, and what the LA Times describes as people who "had found the intersection between creativity and economy, who made beautiful things but did not suffer for it." No one in this world is truly poor — even the struggling artists are cushioned by inheritances and safety nets — and Mellors makes that socioeconomic texture an explicit part of her subject.
Significance and Place in Contemporary Fiction
Mellors arrives as a British-American novelist working squarely in the tradition of sharp, socially observed New York fiction. Waterstones selected Cleopatra and Frankenstein as a Fiction Book of the Month, and the novel went on to become a national bestseller and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist.
The Barnes & Noble publisher description positions it as "a romp through the underbelly of the Downtown Manhattan elite" — a phrase that captures both its social ambition and its tonal lightness. Comparisons to Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends circulated in early coverage, with ES Magazine suggesting that fans of Rooney's work would find much to love here.
Those comparisons locate the novel in a recognizable contemporary mode: relationship-driven literary fiction with a keen eye for millennial anxiety, class performance, and the wreckage intimacy can cause.
Strengths: Chemistry, Pathos, and the Eleanor Exception
The novel's greatest asset is the central relationship itself. The chemistry between Cleo and Frank is, as one reader response noted, "immediately felt," and Mellors constructs their bond with enough warmth and specificity that their eventual unraveling carries genuine weight.
Publishers Weekly singled out Eleanor — a screenwriter who takes a freelance position at Frank's firm and develops a flirtation with him — as a particular highlight, writing that "her winning sections achieve the mix of wit, pathos, and romance the rest strives to attain." Eleanor functions almost as a proof of concept: she demonstrates that Mellors is fully capable of the tonal balance the novel aims for throughout.
The Evening Standard described being "intensely consumed" by the book's world, and Waterstones praised it as "a great, swooning love story" that is simultaneously "a shattering depiction of how addiction and mental illness warp our lives" and "a perceptive, witty portrait of globalized New York."
Limitations: Caricature and Scattered Tone
The novel's supporting cast is where its ambitions most visibly strain. Publishers Weekly observed that the satirical portrait of New York life "too often reads like caricature," pointing to characters such as Zoe, Frank's younger half-sister, who attends a "Climaxing to Consciousness" workshop, and Santiago, a Peruvian chef whose self-description — "The fat friend. The sidekick. But I have feelings. I feel a lot." — tips from pathos into broad sketch.
The LA Times noted that many characters carry "origin stories and ethnicities that do too much of the work of explaining who they are," a critique that lands on one of the novel's structural habits: shortcutting interiority through social type. Publishers Weekly also identified the overall tone and intrigue as "a bit scattered," a fair charge against a book that juggles marital drama, addiction, grief, satire, and ensemble comedy across 384 pages.
Not every thread receives equal development, and the novel's ambition occasionally outpaces its execution.
Who This Novel Is For
Readers drawn to emotionally charged relationship fiction set against a vividly rendered urban backdrop — particularly those who responded to Conversations with Friends or to novels that treat addiction and grief with candor rather than sentimentality — will find Cleopatra and Frankenstein a rewarding if imperfect read. The central marriage is explored, as one response put it, without "embarrassment or deflection," and the novel does not resolve into easy comfort.
At the same time, readers who prefer tightly controlled ensemble casts or consistent satirical tone may find the unevenness genuinely distracting. Publishers Weekly's verdict — "an enticing aura glows at this work's heart" — captures the experience well: the novel's emotional core is strong enough to sustain it, even where the architecture around that core shows its seams.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
publishersweekly.com
- 2
- 3
waterstones.com
- Further reading
- 4
Coco Mellors, LuvemBooks
- 5
cleavermagazine.com
- 6
- 7
readingwritingandme.com
- 8
- 9
nbmagazine.co.uk
- 10
- 11
barnesandnoble.com
- 12
Kirkus Reviews
Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
4 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
alcoholism and addiction depicted in detail
infidelity
parental suicide (backstory)
mental illness
Best for: Adults — explicit portrayal of alcoholism, addiction, infidelity, and parental suicide by suicide as formative backstory.
Skip if you want tightly controlled ensemble fiction with consistent satirical tone and fully realized supporting characters.
Coco Mellors on Cleopatra and Frankenstein
Author Coco Mellors introduces her debut novel Cleopatra and Frankenstein, discussing its plot, ensemble characters, and New York City setting.
Uploaded by Casa del Libro, 2023 · Watch on YouTube ·
Borrowing real details rather than real people
Mellors notes she never bases characters on specific people in her life, but collects real-life details like distinctive laughs, anecdotes, and physical gestures to make them feel alive.
Capturing New York's glamour and grit
Mellors describes the novel as embodying both the rush of a night out and the morning-after hangover, reflecting the contrast between glamour and grit in New York City.
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