Finding Self in New York City

At twenty-four, having escaped from London and her life to come to New York for a two-year master's degree, Cleo, as her student visa is about to expire, meets Frank, who is twenty years older, after a New Year's Eve party. The two immediately hit it off and walk through the streets of New York. In the first moments of their meeting, Cleo and Frank give each other the nicknames Cleopatra and Frankenstein. Frank, a successful man in his forties running an advertising company, and Cleo, twenty-four, studying art and willing to do anything to avoid going back to her broken home. Cleo can neither find a job nor has a plan to extend her visa. She is in such a financial downfall that she doesn't object when Frank buys her a pack of cigarettes.

In the Chapter Two, the book opens in June, and we find ourselves on Cleo and Frank's wedding day. While their marriage helps solve Cleo's immigration situation, it is not the only reason they got married. The couple has fallen in love. But nothing is easy as looking through rose-coloured glasses. Not everyone is supportive of Cleo and Frank's marriage. Cleo's best friend Quentin feels excluded from the picture, while Frank's sister Zoe gives Cleo a hard time. Zoe, who frequently received financial support from her brother, no longer gets this help after the marriage. 

Along with toxic friendship and jealousy, we also witness illicit affairs up close. Before Cleo and Frank became exclusive, Cleo spent a night with Frank's best friend, Anders. It was just one night, but neither Anders nor Cleo seem to forget that night. However, they keep it a secret to prevent Frank from finding out. As their marriage progresses, Cleo begins to notice how much Frank parties and get home drunk all the time, realising he is an alcoholic. Meanwhile, Frank grows concerned as he sees Cleo stop taking her medication and notices her inherited mental illness from her mother worsening. 

Cleopatra and Frankenstein takes on themes of identity conflict, modern relationships, a sense of not belonging anywhere, societal expectations, failure, and personal dissatisfaction. We see how Cleo and Frank struggle to be together, even within the same household, and how their impulsive decisions impact both their lives and social circles. Both easily become interested in others, and their lives do not go as they had hoped. While Cleo expresses her desire to stay in New York to become an artist, Frank, who provides her with financial support, points out that she is not taking any action towards it. 

Cleo becomes quite pessimistic after she stops taking her medication. She struggles to find where she belongs, to whom she belongs, and who she is. She is far from home, and that house has never felt like home; New York is not her home either. She constantly feels like a failure. She failed her marriage just as she failed her career and life. Frank, on the other hand, feels like a failure because he cannot meet Cleo's expectations. He begins to develop feelings for Eleanor, who temporarily works at his company. Cleo realises this through emails between Frank and Eleanor, sensing that Frank has fallen in love with someone else. When Frank leaves the city for work, Cleo finds herself in Anders' arms and tells him she will leave Frank. When Frank returns and sees that she has not left, he decides to move to Los Angeles. Frank finds Cleo unconscious on the floor of their apartment. The only inheritance from her mother is not just her mental illness but also the actions she has taken during that illness: suicide.

The book reflects on how a woman in her 20s who's struggling with identity crisis, can easily make mistakes and even marry a man who's duble her age, trying to find self while depending on someone so badly; hence, drug use, suicide, mental well-being, modern relationships, the toxicity, illicit affairs, falling in love with someone else in the wrong marriage. 

I cannot guarantee that you will fall in love with the characters while reading the book; the only thing I can guarantee is that you will hate every one of them and curse at them. You will question their actions, get angry at them, and find yourself shouting at the book. But somehow, I am sure this book will do you good. Don't get me wrong; it will also feel very bad. Even if you have not experienced the exact same things, you will find a piece of yourself in every character and learn from their mistakes. At least, I hope so.

While I hated Frank from the very beginning, and clearly saw that he is just a portrayal of men (because Frank does the things Cleo wants him to do, not to her but to Eleanor—typical men), I could not hate Cleo no matter how angry I got with her. Because I read about the mistakes she made at twenty-four when I was twenty-four, and I could understand her. Even though I found myself saying, "Get your s- together, LEAVE HIM," I could also empathise with her contradictory actions.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein would never last anyway.