i don’t know what possessed me to buy this book, but i did.
and it was the WORST financial decision i could have ever made.
i so badly wanted to like this book- a vast MAJORITY of TikTok and Instagram does.
“cleopatra and frankenstein” was the first book i allowed myself to read after being in a reading slump for the past three-hundred and sixty five days.
unfortunately, this book fell flat in all the areas it could have done exceedingly well. the characters were too far fleshed out for my liking.
no matter where i read it- in the balcony, my room or on the grass- the plot was NOT in the room with us.
the dialogue was definitely smooth flowing and while some of the descriptions were a bit too verbose, they are undoubtedly beautifully written. this is a quality that could have been sacrificed for a better plot, a plot that doesn’t just involve buying cats, borderline cheating or relationship problems. the first two chapters did hold up hope for an enjoyable conclusion; they were gritty, quirky and riddled with good prose. but as the book progressed, as the turn of events did not table, the characters seemed to annoy me more with each passing second. by the end of the book ( which i did not make it through), the backdrop, characters and imagery were all reduced to just words on a page. we learn that good prose— purple prose— simply isn’t enough to serve as a testament to the quality of a book.
there was a point of time in my reading of this book when i genuinely sat up and thought, “how much could i possibly re-sell this for?” i’m sorry to my parents for wasting their hard-earned money on this gaping hole of a book. i do believe the story could have turned out in a much better way if it were less character focused and more plot-driven. there are books similar to the nature of “cleopatra and frankenstein” which have executed the “living in your 20s without knowing what your’e doing” genre to perfection, but not this one.
as a fellow reviewer said, “the best thing about this book is the ending. because it ends.”
NIKSZINE 
i read this recently and absolutely hated it as well. there was no rhyme or reason for anything shown in the plot. i hated that it was blurbed on the cover as “a love letter to new york” but reading it makes me never want to go there. what was the point of the story?? i saw that review of the best part of the book ending on goodreads too and i felt so seen then lol. so many people love this book but i just couldn’t understand why. i sold it back to the bookstore i bought it from for credit within days of finishing it.
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