Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

1041 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

May 2024 Reread:

I’m sobbing in my bed at 2am as I write this, and I adore this book so much.

Original review (May 2022):

Rating: 5/5 stars

Lowly staff writer Monique Grant is stunned and confused when she is personally requested by aging Hollywood superstar Evelyn Hugo to write an article for Monique’s magazine—and she’s even more confused when Evelyn reveals that what she really wants is for Monique to tell her life (and love) story to the world.

Before picking this one up, I regularly felt like the last person on earth who hadn’t read it, so there’s not much I can say here that hasn’t already been said elsewhere, and you almost certainly don’t need me to convince you to read this one. That said, I’m adding my voice to the chorus to say I absolutely loved this book and all the glowing reviews and rave tributes are 100% correct. It’s a thing of stunning beauty, hilarious wit, and breathtaking heart, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: historical fiction; LGBTQ+ stories; Hollywood glamour vibes.

CW: Homophobia; misogyny; death (including death of child and death of parent); terminal illness; suicide.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse

livreittoashley's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, Addiction, Domestic abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Abortion, and Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy

fierygecko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

I think this is the kind of book that deserves to -and should- be read twice. It is written uniquely; its incredible how different enough Monique and Evelyn’s storytelling styles are that you can tell who is the narrator of each chapter without ever being told. Each character is diverse, complex, and so fleshed out. Evelyn is a fantastic protagonist, partly because she has had a wild and morally gray life but also because she’s an unfiltered, brutally honest 79-year-old lady. As the reader you are never told to love or hate her; that is up for you to decide. I think that given the message of the story, you would decide on both. Monique is a lens for Evelyn’s story, almost. She processes Evelyn’s life through her own, and vice versa. She learns from Evelyn, and it’s so satisfying to witness. This book is about love, loss, and learning from your ex-Hollywood elders with a chip on their shoulder. I look forward to reading it a second time in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, and Biphobia

Minor: Pregnancy and Grief

maritareads's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It felt like Carrie Soto was a copy of Evelyn, but why does this writer keep writing about white latin women and pretending the world sees them as brown?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Car accident

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, and Biphobia

Minor: Suicide, Drug abuse, and Abortion

lulusreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Car accident

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Pregnancy, and Biphobia

astrangewind's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo tells an incredibly queer story from what seems like an incredibly heterosexual premise, which is something I can totally get behind. In fact, I was quite surprised by how gay this book turned out to be. Despite that, though, it was sad, and I couldn't stop reading once the pace picked up. Each husband had a unique flair and purpose in Evelyn's scandalous life, and the sections are executed well.

Despite liking the plot, I liked neither Monique nor Evelyn. I think Evelyn isn't meant to be a likable character; she herself even claims she's a bad person to Monique's face. That's the whole point of the book. She's beautiful, and cruel, and generous, and loving. All of these things at once. However, Monique was probably meant to be likable, but I found her mostly annoying, and her own story much less compelling than Evelyn's.

I am happy that this book is queer, and I'm happy that it's not just about being queer during puberty, as a lot of books with queer characters are. It's about being queer in Hollywood in the late 20th century, dodging the media and dealing with the AIDS crisis. That said, it bugs me that the only characters who treat Evelyn with any kind of respect are queer.

When Evelyn first meets Harry, she makes a note of it that he doesn't stare at her breasts, like all the other men do. It seems unfair for the one man to treat her like a human instead of an object only does so because he doesn't like women. Similarly, it feels unfair that the only woman who treats her with respect happens to be in love with her. Queer people can have platonic friendships with non-queer people.

Also, every mention of

Evelyn's

bisexuality reads like two people talking back and forth on a Tumblr post; it's over-explained and stilted, like Reid is afraid to offend bisexuals. It's fine, Taylor, I promise, to not repeatedly explain that bisexuality is liking men and women (Gasp!). Truth be told, though, that's my main gripe with Seven Husbands, and it's not that bad. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Pedophilia

Minor: Drug use, Car accident, and Suicide

moltedmilk's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

Beautiful story, I read this really fast and I am usually a slow reader. I loved how complex Evelyn’s character is. Such a good book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Abortion, Cancer, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Alcohol

badbadwolf's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Outing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Homophobia, Suicide, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Cancer, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual content

seastheday's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

I would have given this book 5 stars if Monique hadn’t been so terribly rude and annoying. I almost DNF’d the book at 30 pages  because she was so horrendous. I don’t understand why she felt she could speak the way she did to ANYONE. She was caviler with words & didn’t interpret things correctly, ever. Evelyn had to continuously correct her. I know the reason why Evelyn didn’t drop Monique as a writer, but she should have just told Monique the truth. Then, gotten a better ghost writer for her memoir. 

       Now, I loved Evelyn. Her story was just constant heartbreak. It’s hard to reflect on the fact that she only truly WANTED two of the seven husbands. It was hard to watch her struggle with her sexuality vs society and it’s scrutiny. It’s amazing that she went through everything to just have a job she loved AND a partner she loved. But it was so hard to maintain that love and happiness. I’m so happy she got to live and love in Spain.
I also loved Harry & was devastated by how he passed. I cried abou the funeral. And it was tough to like Celia. But Monique I could absolutely have done without.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Cancer, Alcoholism, Abortion, and Addiction

micahhhh20's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Death, Terminal illness, Cancer, Child death, and Homophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Abortion, and Biphobia