Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

46 reviews

anewton's review

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I did not realise I would love this book as much as I did. A complex, rich read that truly makes you reflect on who you are and your identity. An emotional book with a clever twists, that dives beautifully into the complex nature of relationships and sexuality, in context of it’s time period. Beautiful read. 

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_azure76's review against another edition

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

4.25


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kingsteph's review

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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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bookishfaye's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I really don’t know how to rate this book. On one hand, I loved Evelyn’s narrative voice & I did find the story as a whole captivating. However, I knew about some rough representation going into this, & absolutely the Latinx, black/biracial, bisexual, & lesbian rep in this book all were deeply questionable, upsetting, & frustrating. Harry Cameron was the main redeeming quality of this book at times for me & the ending of his story tying into the plot twist in the end made me utterly sick to my stomach.  
Using the murder of a black queer man as the main gotcha moment in this book was so wildly upsetting & I’m really bothered by how swept under the rug that is.
While this book does bring up important talking points, there is just so must harmful ignorance in the writing of the book that I don’t think I could in good faith recommend it to another person.

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parasolcrafter's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this book made me SAD

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kateyjay's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring 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 book was beautiful, strong, complicated characters drive the story that felt so real I thought I was reading a biography about a real woman in the golden age of Hollywood. 

The flaws in all the characters drove a story of love and heartbreak that kept the pages turning late into the night and I was honestly devastated when it was over. 

The Author encapsulated the characters so well that I felt every triumph and loss right along with Evelyn and the final twist (which wasn’t really a twist) broke my heart and had me in tears until 4 in the morning. 
Will recommend this to everyone

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bookishmillennial's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
  disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial 

Monique works at Vivant in New York City, when they get the call from Evelyn Hugo's assistant, Grace, that she would like to do an interview, but only if it is with Monique. Monique's boss is completely puzzled by this, because Monique is not a top editor or writer at Vivant and she wants to know if Monique has any connections to Evelyn Hugo, who was a renowned movie star from the 50s to the 80s. Monique denies it and even asks her mom if her late father knew Evelyn Hugo. Her late father did photography in Hollywood and her mom confirms that he never did. 

So Monique goes to Evelyn and asks the question that everyone wants to know - out of her seven husbands, who was her great love of her life? Evelyn begins sharing her life story with Monique, which begins in her teenage years as she finds a way out of poverty in New York. It becomes immediately clear that Evelyn had to be an actress off-screen more times than anyone could ever imagine. 

Evelyn shares the story behind each of her 7 husbands so glibly because as she puts it, all of the people she loves are now dead so there's no one left to lie for or protect. We meet Poor Ernie Diaz, Goddamn Don Adler, Gullible Mick Rivera, Clever Rex North, Brilliant, Kindhearted, Tortured Harry Cameron, Disappointing Max Girard, and Agreeable Robert Jamison

Even though Evelyn recognizes she has no "sins to confess" and she has no regrets, she knows her actions have hurt others. She also had to fight tooth and nail to achieve all she did. She was also so self-aware and knew what it took to make it in a man's world - when she says "Men were almost never with me for my personality. I'm not suggesting that charming girls should take pity on pretty ones. I'm just saying it's not so great being loved for something you didn't do." Oooof.  

I also really appreciated the messaging of never having enough. Evelyn recognizes that even though this was what she wanted her whole life, she kept wanting more. Nothing was ever good enough or held the key to her happiness. I am meditating on THAT! We all should. 

The faux tabloid articles were fun and realistic, and it made me think even though this is SO obvious, to not believe everything I read or assume about celebrities. 

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booksbyantheia's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

No sé por dónde empezar. Creo que incluso teniendo el orden cronológico de las memorias de Evelyn, todo lo que sentí, todo lo que siento ahora está desparramado por el lugar, saltando de un lado a otro de la balanza. Pero, como también diría Evelyn, es tiempo de la verdad. Probablemente, esta sea de las reseñas editadas a posterioridad; ahora solo busco poner en palabras el nudo en la cabeza y en el corazón que me dejó este libro.

Evelyn Hugo es real. No exclusivamente "Evelyn Hugo" como ícono, sino Evelyn, Evelyn Herrera como personaje, como persona. Es palpable, es gris, es humana. Leerla en sus palabras fue un paseo de elegancia, dolor, honestidad a la vez que mentiras. Y opino que eso la hace aún más destacable; no su físico a pesar de ser remarcado tanto, sino ELLA. Fueron pocas las veces en que pensé en su apariencia, o que la visualicé: simplemente estaba dentro de su mente, yo me movía con ella, como una voyeur, como un espíritu en su mente. La compadecí más de lo que merecía, y la juzgué por más cosas de las necesarias. Tal y como dijo Monique, ella existe en ángulos opuestos. Evelyn Hugo es la desesperación por la libertad, estando en el sitio donde más personas podrían considerarse plenas. 
Y no es solo a causa de su bisexualidad, no es solo a causa de Celia, es por ella misma.
Ella tenía que demostrarse algo, y eso era, que podía hacer lo que quisiera, cuando quisiera. 
Fuera amar a una mujer, fuera irse del país, fuera ganar una estatuilla.
  Su astucia, su sensibilidad y su carácter son únicos. Dudo poder olvidarla, estoy segura de que no voy a poder olvidarla.

Maridos: los únicos relevantes fueron Rex y Harry. Sí, incluso Don queda muy opacado a pesar de ser una mierda. Es cómico cómo visualicé a los únicos hombres a los que Evelyn amó como los menos mencionables. Del otro lado, los que prácticamente no estuvieron con ella de verdad se volvieron muy importantes para mí. Fueron los que le tendieron la mano a Evelyn. Sin mencionar lo que Harry simbolizó para ella. Le dieron una vuelta completa al significado de amor, fidelidad, al concepto de lo que es ser un alma gemela. Y adoro que ninguno de esos tres conceptos tenga que ver con el romance.

Celia: a ver. Celia tiene miles de puntos brillantes, pero incluso con los ojos de amor de Evelyn, no pude evitar sentir que ciertas veces no era necesario justificar sus mierdas. Monique dijo que fue cruel, y Evelyn la defendió, pero la periodista tuvo razón: ciertos caprichos de ella llegaban lejos. Aun así, su amor, su deseo, fueron hermosos para mí. La fidelidad de su corazón también lo fue. Evelyn tenía cada motivo para amarla, porque era su igual, eran dos mujeres intentando más de lo que parecía posible. Me encantó como para ella el sexo entre ellas simbolizaba tanto, siendo lesbiana, con un concepto de intimidad totalmente diferente a Evelyn: por eso me sorprendió levemente ver que no aceptaba la escena de Evelyn con Don, y también su decisión de irse. No debería, de todos modos, porque era bastante evidente su posesividad sobre Evelyn. Sin embargo, lo que REALMENTE me molestó de Celia, el lado oscuro de su personalidad que creo que ni siquiera Evelyn quería aceptar, es lo increíblemente parecida a un HOMBRE que eran sus rabietas. ¿Llamarla puta, un par de tetas, querer estar con una bomba y no con una madre, negar su identidad durante tanto tiempo? Harry dijo "los hombres ponen...", pero quien había insultado a Evelyn no era un varón, era Celia. Ambas tenían mucho machismo interiorizado, y como Evelyn no lo pensaba desde el punto de Celia, inmediatamente eso la rebajaba a ojos de la pelirroja. No sé si puedo echarle la culpa a TJR por eso, considero que ni ella se dio cuenta de la curiosa paradoja que estaba pintando, pero me pareció, cuanto menos, delicado que su defecto más grande fuera eso.
 

En fin. Este libro atrajo demasiados sentimientos en mí. Ese plot twist estaba en las manos del lector, por lo que siento que una persona más interesada en las líneas de la trama podría haberlo visto venir. Yo no pude. Estaba demasiado ocupada, sintiendo sus emociones en la carne, incluso sin poder "identificarme" en ellos, sin poder verme en ellos... Estaba visualizando vida ante mis ojos.

Vida que Evelyn Hugo vivió.

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haleysversion's review

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dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0


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xriekex's review

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dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

Did not like Evelyn at first, which is never nice for a main character. Did like her at the end either, but understood why, so it was fine. Insanely good writing, the change of perspectives was really nice! The ending was a bit foreseeable near the last third of the book, but I think that is fine.

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