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olieander 's review for:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Three or three and a half might have to simmer on it before deciding.
Update: 3 stars
Haven’t read a book this fast for a long time. I was basically doing 100 pages per day.
I liked TJR’s way of writing and I like how her characters came alive. The friendship between Harry and Evelyn has a gravity to it that I adore. Friendships in romance media is rarely given as much importance as the main romantic pair so seeing Harry and Evelyn’s once in a lifetime soulmate relationship being a positive, beautiful, love is gorgeously depicted. I’m a big believer that platonic relationships can be as great as romantic relationships, if not greater. I love that Harry and Evelyn got to experience that.
The great love story between Celia and Evelyn is moving. It’s complicated and messy and all-consuming. No lgbt experience is the same and I appreciate that Celia and Evelyn disagreed on how to express their relationship to the public. Celia came from a place of privilege. She was discovered in her hometown where she grew up in a well-off decent home, so far off from the dirt and grit that Evelyn went through to carve a place for herself in the business. It makes sense that their background affects their view about coming out. It adds nuance to their characterization. When it comes to their romantic journey, this is definitely one of the better ones. It’s interesting, it’s nuanced, it’s realistic. TJR has a talent for building relationships that the readers will care about.
I like that Evelyn Hugo’s impact is so huge on anyone or everyone around her that Monique, who she knew for perhaps two weeks?, is changed forever by her conversation with Evelyn. She realizes that through Evelyn she could ask for what she deserved (and also reconnect with the memory of her father). I liked that Monique and Evelyn’s stories are interlinked with one another where we can see Monique undergo changes with every cut. The twist ending, I think, is unnecessary and the story would have still worked without the extra splice of drama. Still, I don’t completely hate it. I just find twist endings lazy and written for the Dramatics of it all.
What I didn’t like is mostly because of personal preferences. I didn’t like that we’re always being reminded that Evelyn isn’t a good person like we wouldn’t be able to realize that ourselves. It’s like TJR didn’t expect her audience to analyze Evelyn so she had it spelled out to Monique (reader self-insert [this is a joke]). It’s like she wanted to write a morally ambiguous character but didn’t want to fully commit. I also didn’t like that in the select times the word “lesbian” is mentioned it’s in a negative way, and when it’s positively describing Celia “gay” is used in its place. It’s a nitpick and you could say it’s just part of Evelyn’s character but it says a lot that even modern books like this still prefer to not use the word lesbian without a hint of shame.
Overall, even with my nitpicks, Seven Husbands is still a pleasure to read. I would recommend it to people who wants drama, romance, and intrigue. If you want to get back to a reading groove, this will be a great book to start with because it’s the kind of book you devour.
Update: 3 stars
Haven’t read a book this fast for a long time. I was basically doing 100 pages per day.
I liked TJR’s way of writing and I like how her characters came alive. The friendship between Harry and Evelyn has a gravity to it that I adore. Friendships in romance media is rarely given as much importance as the main romantic pair so seeing Harry and Evelyn’s once in a lifetime soulmate relationship being a positive, beautiful, love is gorgeously depicted. I’m a big believer that platonic relationships can be as great as romantic relationships, if not greater. I love that Harry and Evelyn got to experience that.
The great love story between Celia and Evelyn is moving. It’s complicated and messy and all-consuming. No lgbt experience is the same and I appreciate that Celia and Evelyn disagreed on how to express their relationship to the public. Celia came from a place of privilege. She was discovered in her hometown where she grew up in a well-off decent home, so far off from the dirt and grit that Evelyn went through to carve a place for herself in the business. It makes sense that their background affects their view about coming out. It adds nuance to their characterization. When it comes to their romantic journey, this is definitely one of the better ones. It’s interesting, it’s nuanced, it’s realistic. TJR has a talent for building relationships that the readers will care about.
I like that Evelyn Hugo’s impact is so huge on anyone or everyone around her that Monique, who she knew for perhaps two weeks?, is changed forever by her conversation with Evelyn. She realizes that through Evelyn she could ask for what she deserved (and also reconnect with the memory of her father). I liked that Monique and Evelyn’s stories are interlinked with one another where we can see Monique undergo changes with every cut. The twist ending, I think, is unnecessary and the story would have still worked without the extra splice of drama. Still, I don’t completely hate it. I just find twist endings lazy and written for the Dramatics of it all.
What I didn’t like is mostly because of personal preferences. I didn’t like that we’re always being reminded that Evelyn isn’t a good person like we wouldn’t be able to realize that ourselves. It’s like TJR didn’t expect her audience to analyze Evelyn so she had it spelled out to Monique (reader self-insert [this is a joke]). It’s like she wanted to write a morally ambiguous character but didn’t want to fully commit. I also didn’t like that in the select times the word “lesbian” is mentioned it’s in a negative way, and when it’s positively describing Celia “gay” is used in its place. It’s a nitpick and you could say it’s just part of Evelyn’s character but it says a lot that even modern books like this still prefer to not use the word lesbian without a hint of shame.
Overall, even with my nitpicks, Seven Husbands is still a pleasure to read. I would recommend it to people who wants drama, romance, and intrigue. If you want to get back to a reading groove, this will be a great book to start with because it’s the kind of book you devour.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness