Hi friends & book lovers, it’s Rachel & Alia.
Hope you guys have been having a great summer! Since the last time we announced our summer book pick, Cleopatra & Frankenstein by Coco Mellors, the excitement for our next trivia night just kept growing and growing, especially after the success of our inaugural trivia quiz on Normal People by Sally Rooney.
In case you missed it:
There are a lot more prizes this time around from not only Bedaskin but other brands too! I mean, what’s not to love? A cosy night by yourself or with friends, playing a fun quiz to win some prizes. So mark your calendars for Sunday 15th September and make a night of it.
Table of content
Cleopatra & Frankenstein - The Intertwined Messy Relationships in Bustling New York
Coco Mellors' Cleopatra & Frankenstein is a modern, fresh take on relationships, identity, and love – themes we can all relate to, making it a fine choice to deep dive and bask in the drama for your Beda girl summer read. Set in New York, Coco Mellors captured the essence of figuring things out in the big city full of other dreamers, and the messy long lasting friendships you make along the way.
The novel is full of vibrant characters, witty dialogue, and moments that make us laugh. But this book also has its moments that "trigger us", making us feel uncomfortable or cringe. Among the many events that happen in this book, it's inevitable to come across situations that we relate to and more interestingly, situations that we can't relate to or understand.
Character Deep Dives
Mellors has created a rich tapestry of characters. From the enigmatic Cleo to the complex Frank, Mellors does not shy away from making unlikeable characters. Each character has their own backstory, identity struggles, dreams and aspirations, and most importantly flaws. As a reader, seeing the dynamics between everyone in their friend group from a bird’s eye view, was an interesting study on human behaviour as we dive into how insecurities, jealousy, infidelity and passion can lead us to do stupid things that harm not only others but ourselves.
Plot Twists and Turns
This book has been summarised as a “love letter to your messy 20’s and 30’s” because this book showcases how sometimes life has to be messy in order to figure things out. Mellors takes us through the many twists and turns of each character as they navigate sexual identity, health implications, and real ugly obstacles that can arise in marriage and friendships. Life especially when you are in your 20’s and 30’s is so unpredictable, and the main takeaway in this book is that being around the right people who support and uplift you can help make it just a little bit easier to make better decisions and to not feel so alone. Even when life throws you a major curveball.
Themes, Symbolism & Conversations
Mellors weaves themes of art, freedom, love, and most importantly, self-destruction throughout the novel. There are many things that we are left with to unpack and ponder about - particularly the ethics of a variety of topics such as age-gap relationships, substance abuse, following the heart vs. following the mind, mental health, toxic family history and many more.
Quotes to Remember
Mellors’ writing is sharp, witty and relatable. It’s a book that doesn’t fluff around too much and uses simple digestible language that we all use in our own inner monologues, whilst still being engaging, introspective and exciting. Cleopatra and Frankenstein reads like watching a netflix TV show and being in the mind of just another person figuring things out allows us to connect with the story. It’s very human and simple, making it easy to read and very relatable.
Prepping for the Quiz
Relax and Read at your Own Pace and Leisure
You still have time to flip through the book and refresh your memory on the key events and characters or if you haven’t read it at all yet don't worry! Take your time and enjoy the process, while you prep and anticipate the release of the quiz.
BBC Trivia Quiz Night
We’ll share a link to our trivia quiz through our email newsletter - so make sure you’re subscribed to Beda’s mailing list . Don’t forget to also click on the “save the date” alert to be reminded a week in advance, giving you ample time to prepare or even plan a get-together with your friends.
Winner Selection for Prizes and Giveaways
Top scorers will be randomly selected to be chosen for the prizes. As mentioned, this time we have many more prizes available.
These Prizes Could Be Yours!
More Prizes & More Winners
We weren’t kidding when we said that this time, we are going bigger and better. Be sure to save the date and give our trivia quiz a go to see if you are one of our lucky winners.
P.S We are selecting 10 winners this time!
Counting Down the Days
Our book club trivia nights are more than just tests of knowledge – they are a celebration of the joy of reading. Beda Book Club encourages discovering new books - giving books that we would have never normally picked up a chance.
Some of these books you’ll completely fall in love with, and some books may leave us a bit confused or unsatisfied, but we will definitely bond over the shared experience of discovering new worlds through the written word.
For us, reading Cleopatra & Frankenstein was definitely an interesting 50/50 experience. But even so, books are meant to evoke reactions, emotions, thoughts and questions, whatever they may be.
Looking back at your life, what were some of your experiences where you had friendships and/or relationships that were not the best for you? What was going on during that time of your life that allowed for these situations to happen? And most importantly, looking at where and who you are now, how much have you grown since then?
Mellors’ welcomed us into the friend group and marriage of Cleopatra and Frankenstein and mirrored real life scenarios - not everyone you meet in life are going to be people you love. Sometimes they enter your life because they are there to teach you something and force yourself to change.
So, tell us.
What parts of the book did you love and which parts triggered you?
Let us know your thoughts on our instagram @bedaskin.
With love,
Rachel & Alia
P.S Mini recap for our BYOB “Bring your own Bestie” community event last weekend
It’s always such a fun time meeting our community in real life, be it meeting each other for the first time ever or finally meeting someone in person after talking to them online for so long. We took our friendships to the next level with matching BFF tattoos and it all felt so nostalgic.
It was so exciting to see girls walking in while wearing our Beda Claw Clip! So many of you talked about how life-changing the claw was and how it’s even prettier in real life. It’s one of those things that you have to try it to believe it. So happy to see you guys enjoying it and proudly showing off being a part of our Beda CCC - Claw Clip Cult as you guys have coined it.
Don't forget to show us how you are styling your claw clip @bedaskin, where you can also see all the other Beda girls wearing it out and about. Send us pics or tag us! We’ll see you at our next event.
