A review by abrunettereads
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional inspiring 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

4.0

I have picked up The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo seven times. And put it back on the shelf 6 times. I'm serious, everytime I've picked this book up in the past I've put it back down because I was either not in the mood or I found something else to read, or I was in a slump.

Best to say, I'm glad I picked it up the 7th time. The book had me hooked from the 3rd chapter on. I got really intrigued by Evelyn and her way of being mysterious yet completely open.

The fact that she laid out her entire life for a complete
stranger who hasn't even seen her films before is what
captured me. The pure #bossbabemove that is Evelyn Hugo, Was I ready for there this book took me? No. Was I happy when I got there? Hell yes.

Give me a morally grey woman who knows whats she wants
and gets it without fear. Give me someone who creates her
own power and name. Give me Evelyn Hugo, the icon that
married 7 husbands to live with one true love of her life.
I loved how Celia brought out a different Evelyn. A caring
one, a person that wants to fight for love, a person that
wants to protect the ones she loved. I love how Harry was
Evelyn's first and only best friend till the end. labsolutely
adored the little family they made.

I gave this book 4 because of some things that didn't sit
well with me. One of them was how queer poc people in this book were written by a white straight woman. I'm poc but I'm not queer, I am an ally but I don't know the depths of the struggles the queer community has gone through. Like the author, I've been on the outside peering into it since the beginning. Which is why I felt a little weird to read words of struggle or lack thereof regarding queer characters from a non-queer member. One of my other issues was Celia.
I didn’t like her at all. She came of as very insecure and bratty to me, not to mention selfish! The fact that she left Evelyn when all she wanted to do was make it safe for them to be together. I also found it very hypocritical that when Evelyn tried to reconcile plus the oscar speech, Cecile didn’t bother to call or meet her. However she comes back only when she knows she’s dying, and then goes ahead to uproot Evelyn and her entire family. My last and third issue was with how Evelyn and Monique are connected. That was sooo cruel, and the fact that Evelyn put her in a position where she had to sit through and listen to her for several days, not knowing the horror of the actions she’d done? Unacceptable.  


If my judgement is too strong please let me know, I'm here to grow.