Scan barcode
A review by txikimandy
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
I have a lot of mixed opinions about this book. It is always so hard to pick a star rating, and this book is no different.
I’ll start by saying I really enjoyed the plot. Emotionally, the book was perfect: it was heartwarming and heartbreaking, frustrating, funny, tense, gut wrenching, all at once. I cried several times while I was reading; the book has dynamic characters who you get attached to and feel for. The characters themselves are complex, and you don’t know if you love them or hate them, and you’re never sure what will happen with any given character or relationship.
The writing and structure of the novel is where it loses stars for me. It is a parallel narrative, with much more attention given to Evelyn’s (of course); so much that I frequently forgot what was happening in Monique’s life, making it feel completely unbalanced. The timelines are obviously incongruous, and it felt very poorly paced because of that. Since time passed inconsistently in Evelyn’s narrative, but consistently in Monique’s, keeping track of real-world days/weeks felt impossible. The writing was cliche in parts, which, because Reid is an excellent writer in most of the novel, stood out to me glaringly. Nearly every time we switched back to Monique’s narrative, there was a cliche cliffhanger line meant to make you need to keep reading, which only made me roll my eyes. The big reveal was surprisingly predictable; I thought for sure I would be wrong and would be blown away by it, but I had been guessing correctly for a long time. The beginning of the book took about 130 pages to really capture my interest, which is far too many. The ending of this heartwrenching rollercoaster of a book felt too neat and tidy. I wish it was more realistic and emotional, but the morals and lessons of the book were essentially spelled out letter by letter.
Overall, despite the parts of the writing I didn’t like, I thought the book was really good. In much of the book, Reid is such an excellent writer that I’m having a hard time not overlooking the flaws I felt and rating this nearly 5 stars! Once the book finally caught my interest, I was captivated. I would say this book is a little bit overhyped on social media, but I would still recommend it for anyone curious.
I’ll start by saying I really enjoyed the plot. Emotionally, the book was perfect: it was heartwarming and heartbreaking, frustrating, funny, tense, gut wrenching, all at once. I cried several times while I was reading; the book has dynamic characters who you get attached to and feel for. The characters themselves are complex, and you don’t know if you love them or hate them, and you’re never sure what will happen with any given character or relationship.
The writing and structure of the novel is where it loses stars for me. It is a parallel narrative, with much more attention given to Evelyn’s (of course); so much that I frequently forgot what was happening in Monique’s life, making it feel completely unbalanced. The timelines are obviously incongruous, and it felt very poorly paced because of that. Since time passed inconsistently in Evelyn’s narrative, but consistently in Monique’s, keeping track of real-world days/weeks felt impossible. The writing was cliche in parts, which, because Reid is an excellent writer in most of the novel, stood out to me glaringly. Nearly every time we switched back to Monique’s narrative, there was a cliche cliffhanger line meant to make you need to keep reading, which only made me roll my eyes. The big reveal was surprisingly predictable; I thought for sure I would be wrong and would be blown away by it, but I had been guessing correctly for a long time. The beginning of the book took about 130 pages to really capture my interest, which is far too many. The ending of this heartwrenching rollercoaster of a book felt too neat and tidy. I wish it was more realistic and emotional, but the morals and lessons of the book were essentially spelled out letter by letter.
Overall, despite the parts of the writing I didn’t like, I thought the book was really good. In much of the book, Reid is such an excellent writer that I’m having a hard time not overlooking the flaws I felt and rating this nearly 5 stars! Once the book finally caught my interest, I was captivated. I would say this book is a little bit overhyped on social media, but I would still recommend it for anyone curious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Grief, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, and Car accident
Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Sexual content, Addiction, Death of parent, Homophobia, Classism, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Outing