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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TJR knocks it out of the park every. Single. Time.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My opinions on this book are divide in two:
As entertainment, this works great. It's fun, interesting, easy to read, fairly well paced. I read it in less than 24 hours which is saying a lot coming from me, since I have my brain deep fried at this point basically. I usually measure books on whether or not I'd like to keep a physical copy of them for friends and family to borrow, and the answer for this book would be yes: I think my mom could read this, any of my friends could read this, my hypothetical future children could read it. And enjoy it, right. So that's mainly where the three stars come from. It's a good book, it serves it's purpose.
Now in terms of like, the representation in this book......
For one, I have no idea what business TJR has writing about the biracial Black experience, I don't think she's one to make comparisons between being biracial and being bisexual, and honestly her takes are very insipid and very white. Even the fact that the MC says that she was never accepted by her Black peers, but somehow it's never addressed that she must have suffered racism from her white peers........ Sure.
Two, I don't think TJR really understands what being "Latino" or more specifically "Cuban" means. I think she thinks it's a race. In her mind, Evelyn Hugo's racial makeup is "Latina", and latinos have "tan skin". But actually, Latino is not a race, neither is Cuban. They are ethnicity and nationality, respectively. And someone who is Cuban can be anything. I don't know enough about Cuban history to know which demographic would have been more likely to have migrated from Cuba to the US in the 40s, but for sure it wouldn't be the same if Evelyn was a white Cuban with mediterranean heritage or a mixed/biracial Black woman. But this is never addressed, because I don't think TJR knows any of this. Evelyn is tan, because latinos are tan. End of story.
Three, the representation of both bisexuality and lesbianism in here is vile. It's a book about an unfaithful bisexual and a man-envious goldstar lesbian. It's disastrous. I know a lot of readers excuse this by saying either it's this way because it's told through Evelyn's eyes, or by quoting one of the several passages where Evelyn says she wasn't unfaithful because she was bisexual, she was just a self absorbed asshole. But in either case, TJR fails at truly delivering a nuanced, complex, thoughtful take.
Below I'll break down some of my thoughts.
Unfaithful bisexual: there's three points of conflict in this story in which Evelyn is "unfaithful" to Celia in one way or another, always with a man. As much as she tries to paint it that it was because she was too worried about protecting her career, the reality is that there were always other ways out of the situation she found herself in (especially #2 and #3, I'll defend her with the fake Vegas marriage). She just didn't want to give it a second thought because in the end (1) she doesn't really mind having sex with men, (2) she doesn't really see her attraction to men and her attraction to women in the same level. I think if Evelyn Hugo had either been a lesbian, or her forbidden relationship had been with a man (say, a man of color in the 60s) then things wouldn't have gone down this way.
Man-envious lesbian: the conflict between Evelyn and Celia is very specifically about Evleyn being with men, much more than the fact that she was unfaithful. AND Celia expresses multiple times sorrow over not being able to give Evelyn what men can, or being envious/insecure about men. Just.... barf
Goldstar lesbian: Celia is awfully biphobic towards Evelyn and is evidently prideful that she's not hooking up with men herself. Barf x2 --- I think it's also awful how Evelyn tries to set herself apart from lesbians by the fact that she also likes men and somehow that makes her more "normal"
Also the fact that the story takes it as a given that Evelyn (bisexual) will want kids but Celia (lesbian) won't. And that it implies that Celia, as any man, will only love Evelyn if she remains the blond bomb she was pre-pregnancy. Barf x3
Also the fact that at any point in the fucking 60s Celia implies they could live a normal life............ I know she's meant to represent a very rich, deluded woman (in opposition to Evelyn's realistic, pragmatic view of the world) but be serious..... it's the 60s. If it were the 80s, the 90s, I could take it. You could play dumb, whistle low, and get by as two good friends. But the 60s, while being famous? Unlikely.
As entertainment, this works great. It's fun, interesting, easy to read, fairly well paced. I read it in less than 24 hours which is saying a lot coming from me, since I have my brain deep fried at this point basically. I usually measure books on whether or not I'd like to keep a physical copy of them for friends and family to borrow, and the answer for this book would be yes: I think my mom could read this, any of my friends could read this, my hypothetical future children could read it. And enjoy it, right. So that's mainly where the three stars come from. It's a good book, it serves it's purpose.
Now in terms of like, the representation in this book......
For one, I have no idea what business TJR has writing about the biracial Black experience, I don't think she's one to make comparisons between being biracial and being bisexual, and honestly her takes are very insipid and very white. Even the fact that the MC says that she was never accepted by her Black peers, but somehow it's never addressed that she must have suffered racism from her white peers........ Sure.
Two, I don't think TJR really understands what being "Latino" or more specifically "Cuban" means. I think she thinks it's a race. In her mind, Evelyn Hugo's racial makeup is "Latina", and latinos have "tan skin". But actually, Latino is not a race, neither is Cuban. They are ethnicity and nationality, respectively. And someone who is Cuban can be anything. I don't know enough about Cuban history to know which demographic would have been more likely to have migrated from Cuba to the US in the 40s, but for sure it wouldn't be the same if Evelyn was a white Cuban with mediterranean heritage or a mixed/biracial Black woman. But this is never addressed, because I don't think TJR knows any of this. Evelyn is tan, because latinos are tan. End of story.
Three, the representation of both bisexuality and lesbianism in here is vile. It's a book about an unfaithful bisexual and a man-envious goldstar lesbian. It's disastrous. I know a lot of readers excuse this by saying either it's this way because it's told through Evelyn's eyes, or by quoting one of the several passages where Evelyn says she wasn't unfaithful because she was bisexual, she was just a self absorbed asshole. But in either case, TJR fails at truly delivering a nuanced, complex, thoughtful take.
Below I'll break down some of my thoughts.
Unfaithful bisexual: there's three points of conflict in this story in which Evelyn is "unfaithful" to Celia in one way or another, always with a man. As much as she tries to paint it that it was because she was too worried about protecting her career, the reality is that there were always other ways out of the situation she found herself in (especially #2 and #3, I'll defend her with the fake Vegas marriage). She just didn't want to give it a second thought because in the end (1) she doesn't really mind having sex with men, (2) she doesn't really see her attraction to men and her attraction to women in the same level. I think if Evelyn Hugo had either been a lesbian, or her forbidden relationship had been with a man (say, a man of color in the 60s) then things wouldn't have gone down this way.
Man-envious lesbian: the conflict between Evelyn and Celia is very specifically about Evleyn being with men, much more than the fact that she was unfaithful. AND Celia expresses multiple times sorrow over not being able to give Evelyn what men can, or being envious/insecure about men. Just.... barf
Goldstar lesbian: Celia is awfully biphobic towards Evelyn and is evidently prideful that she's not hooking up with men herself. Barf x2 --- I think it's also awful how Evelyn tries to set herself apart from lesbians by the fact that she also likes men and somehow that makes her more "normal"
Also the fact that the story takes it as a given that Evelyn (bisexual) will want kids but Celia (lesbian) won't. And that it implies that Celia, as any man, will only love Evelyn if she remains the blond bomb she was pre-pregnancy. Barf x3
Also the fact that at any point in the fucking 60s Celia implies they could live a normal life............ I know she's meant to represent a very rich, deluded woman (in opposition to Evelyn's realistic, pragmatic view of the world) but be serious..... it's the 60s. If it were the 80s, the 90s, I could take it. You could play dumb, whistle low, and get by as two good friends. But the 60s, while being famous? Unlikely.
I think this book is the complete opposite from what I thought it would be, but in the best ways. I read “Atmosphere” and I thought I don’t think she’s ever written women loving women this beautifully before, then I read this and it changed everything. I think Evelyn Hugo wouldn’t have been the same person without all seven husbands. The things you do for love and life and fame will always haunt you, I knew from the very beginning this book would be different from anything i’ve ever read before. I had tears running down my face the entire time. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid’s unique writing so much, it always hooks you from the first page till the last. This book deserves a lot more than five stars, I’m literally speechless.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Wooooww I’m really surprised I enjoyed this book because the way i was feeling during like the first 50 pages was eh. I like how the author added the tabloid articles as another way to move along the plot. I like the twist that none of Evelyn’s husbands were her true love and that it was actually a woman, but it kind of felt rushed. Like we never saw Evelyn struggle with her sexuality during a time that it was not okay to be bisexual, then all of a sudden she finds out her best friend is a lesbian and Evelyn is like “omg i love you and cant live without you”. I HATED the twist at the end though. Evelyn basically framed a dead black man for drunk driving to save her white friend’s reputation who was dying anyway. And we were just supposed to move on after that??? Like it doesn’t make sense as to why one out of two black characters in the story was just placed in the plot just to die in the passenger seat of his white lover’s car who was drunk driving, then be put in the driver’s seat by Evelyn and framed for his death. Isn’t Evelyn supposed to be Cuban, and she is sitting here framing a black man to save a white man??? The author really didn’t have to make that character black. Anywho, thats my only gripe with this book, I’m rating it 4.5 stars because of that twist at the end.