Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

208 reviews

myleejmiller's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I heard all about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as I read more and more contemporary fiction. I almost believed the reviews were complete phony, due to them being so extraordinary. But, after reading the novel, I must admit it is jaw-dropping, heart-wrenching, and real. The characters are complex and intense. The atmosphere is intoxicating and perfect. The twists and turns of Evelyn's seven different husbands left me wanting more of the story as I read on. It was binge-worthy. I stayed up all night reading this masterpiece and know I will never read anything like it again. I love the mysterious beginning and the all-revealing end. The only issue I had with the novel is that the way Monique and Evelyn are tied together comes almost left of field. There is no way to guess their connection, even after 'hints' are dropped, and it seems irrelevant by the end of the text. Otherwise, the story is utterly fantastic and sheds a bright light on what contemporary should be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

ameliebryant's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Car accident

ccassidy98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

jselliot's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was probably one of my favorite books this year, honestly. Evelyn Hugo may be a star-studded icon, but also a person. And by the time the book takes place, people have forgotten about the personhood behind the legacy. The goal? An expose on herself.

Craft wise, this book handled the past- and present-tense shifts well. Past-tense, the majority of the book, applied to Evelyn's dish on her own past. The few present-tense chapters were centered around Monique in the contemporary aspect of the setting. And mercifully, it did not butcher common past-tense sayings in those moments. (A chief complaint of mine with the rash of first-person present-tense books that have come out lately. It's jarring.)

Without giving too many spoilers, I'd say that perhaps the most refreshing thing about Seven Husbands is that the narrative itself treats Evelyn like most books do male characters. Now, within the context of the period, she is absolutely treated as a woman of color and one who made her fame in the 60s through the 80s. Those times were not kind to women, nor LBGT people. But the way the narrative treated her like typical male characters is that it allowed her to make morally and legally wrong choices, and still be a complex individual without being vilified for it. She made mistakes and owns them. She's not perfect and is no longer interested in maintaining her carefully curated image. But she does have a story to tell, and what a compelling story it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse, Abortion, and Abandonment

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional reflective

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion and War

Also includes several uses of the D-slur, and discussion of underage sex.

sailorlu's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

kingsteph's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

_rae6021's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall very good, really slow and doesn’t pick up any pace throughout. Also left without a real ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

minsreadingnook's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.9*
Thoughts:
The more I thought about the story as a whole, the more my rating dropped lol but If you would’ve asked me while I was reading the story, I would’ve given it a 5*. I feel like the ending was somehow… lackluster. I don’t know why to be honest, probably because I was just not ever invested in Monique as a character. Or maybe I just expected so much.

Connor’s name just reminds me of Connor Murphy but I love the way motherhood was portrayed.
Evelyn was such an interesting character to read. I devoured this book because of her.
I don’t like Celia that much but the nice parts of their relationship was pretty cute. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

booksaggitatius's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy