Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

46 reviews

pianokeys's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Cursing, Miscarriage, Rape, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Addiction, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Car accident, Sexual assault, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Bullying, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Physical abuse, Outing, Death of parent, Mental illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Chronic illness

Minor: Racism and Classism

vr_alyssa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

Immersive read! Once I like a book, I'm generally not great at putting it down. But this was different. It wasn't an 'I need to finish it asap and so I secretly skip sentences/paragraphs'. I just wanted to be in the story, so I would take it out of my bag, even when I only had 2 minutes. Or I'd pick up the book when my partner needed to go to the toilet while we were watching a movie, just so I could get in a page or two.

As a reader, you're basically both reading a fictional biography about a famous movie star as well as the interviews leading up to the creation of said biography. Which means the reader knows certain things are coming (I mean, you know it by the title too, she clearly had seven husband, so you know the first marriage doesn't last). But there are a few other things the reader learns to expect early on in the story. I found those hard to predict, despite knowing that they were coming. Furthermore, there wasn't necessarily a need to figure it out (which I usually have with books, such as Fourth Wing recently), I could just let it happen as it happened. And, of course, when revealed, the information caught me completely off guard, to the point of mumbling 'No no no no no' aloud for a while.

I am not entirely sure how I feel about the way it portray the industry. Yes, Evelyn had agency (at least somewhat), but she's still being used and limited. Differently than men. The book leaves it to the reader to form an opinion on it and fill in the gaps. Sometimes I worried that the book made it seem like she had more agency than she actually did, but it worked for me.

It was a very interesting and lovely reading experience, to say the least. Best way I can describe it, is that it's human.

Life lessons by Evelyn Hugo:

• "Be wary of men with something to prove." (76)
• "... praise is just like an addiction. The more you get it, the more of it you need just to stay even." (83)
• "No one is going to give you anything if you don't ask for it." (95)
• "You can desire someone especially when you don't like him." (111)
• "It is OK to grovel for something you really want." (191).
• And so on

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Terminal illness

laneelizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative 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? Yes

4.0

With so many heavy topics discussed in this book, I really think Taylor Jenkins Reid did a beautiful job showing us the complexities of each one of them. Along with the simple complexity of just being human. This book covers the story of a woman from 13 years old to her death at 79 and everything that happened in between including what leads her to Monique Grant to write her memoirs, ending the book with a connection between the two you will never see coming. I never expected to relate to a movie star from the 50s but hearing Evelyn's story reminded me of my own life and it's amazing how the author did that so beautifully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Outing, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape, Child abuse, Blood, Abortion, and Miscarriage

imskylow's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

This book actually had me really invested in the characters. Everyone and their flaws felt so plausible and that I cheered for them when good things happened and felt physically ill when things went wrong. So often, I felt like this was written about actual people and found myself checking the authors name on the book to be sure it wasn’t listed as Monique. Haha. And then I caught myself wishing I could watch all the movies Evelyn and her fellow actors and actresses starred in. I was very surprised about how much I enjoyed this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Car accident, Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Infidelity and Outing

kaynic's review

emotional 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: Car accident, Bullying, Biphobia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion, Misogyny, Child abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Miscarriage, and Addiction

jessicadr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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

This is my first 5 star read of the year. The book moved very quickly from the beginning. Although there were a couple of times I tried to figure out while I was still reading, the twists at the end were so worth it. The feelings I have for this book are very controversial. This is definitely a book I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Alcoholism

thatbookbitch's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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: Cancer, Death, Grief, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Outing, Lesbophobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Suicide, Blood, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit, Gaslighting, Abortion, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Pregnancy

idontread's review

emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.25

to anyone who saw me crying alone in the airport lounge while reading this no u didn’t

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Biphobia, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Addiction, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Child death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Cancer, Grief, Incest, Outing, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

racheleanne06's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I found myself so much more invested in this book than I was expecting. It’s emotional, sad, and yet still hopeful at times too. I found myself engrossed in these characters and their stories. 

It’s a book about love, in all it’s different forms, but it’s also about grit, determination and survival. 

This book feels real, as if Evelyn is a star that we have known for ages on our screens, that she’s a real person with real hopes and desires. That Monique is the one writing about Evelyn’s life. 

Especially when it comes down to the heartbreaking truths of LGBT+ history, which is included heavily in this book, and the devastating themes of loss and grief. 

It’s not something I would normally pick up, but after hearing a lot of people talk about Jenkins Reid, I wanted to give it a go. I am VERY glad I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death, Blood, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Child death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Suicide, Death of parent, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Outing