Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

1065 reviews

ksmith_23's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, Homophobia, Alcohol, Car accident, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Cancer, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Addiction

Minor: Child death

star_witch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I borrowed the book from a friend, after she insisted I read it, and now I don't know if I'm supposed to thank her or make her pay for my therapy.

SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING:

I didn't even think I was going to cry. 
I didn't cry when Harry died, or Celia, or Connor. Or even Evelyn.
I cried when Monique's mom started reminiscing about her husband (and Monique's father).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Death, Alcohol, Biphobia, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

hayleyw's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Blood, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

zzaranazz's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

(docking a point bc tjr is a zi0nist lol) holy fucking shit, I tried reading this book so many different times over the 2 1/2 years that I’ve owned it and every single time it would fall flat and fly over my head. I couldn’t get into it, the story was dragging, for whatever reason I didn’t understand what the hype was around this book until I went into it on this time around and I couldn’t get enough of it. 
the last hundred pages is just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy and it is genuinely got wrenching, I read the last third of the book in a coffee shop. Don’t recommend that. She finally gets the love of her life back a second time, then her best friend/father of her child, dies in a horrific car crash and she has to cover it up, she learns that the love of her life, who she just got back is terminally ill, and they get 10 good years. Until she dies in her arms, while stuck in a marriage with her brother that was loveless but he was a good father to her child, until he also died, and then her kid dies of breast cancer?!? 
and then you learn that the person she framed for the death of her best friend Is the dead father, who was the lover of said, best friend, Of the main character in the present day?!? I mean, how can you not fucking love this book. 
It made me unstable in public and I did in fact cry for like two hours in a coffee shop in the middle of San Diego, but it makes me want to get on a plane to fly 2000 miles across the country to go see my partner and tell her how much I love her because I’ll be damned if decades with her were stolen from me for fear of the rest of the world finding out queer ppl exist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Moderate: Abortion

jmermelstein14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Terminal illness

ghost_cat_xo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, Biphobia, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Cancer, Sexual content, Homophobia, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Suicide, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

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 against another edition

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