Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

197 reviews

idontread's review against another edition

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

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

taylor jenkins reid is without a doubt one of my favorite fiction authors. she has such a striking ability to seamlessly piece together a realistic world and intertwine that world and it’s characters into all of her novels. she also has a wonderful talent for pacing her novels.  i do believe malibu rising is her best (i have yet to read carrie soto though!), but this was a great read as well. i loved evelyn, as well as celia, harry, and john. but, i honestly did not care for monique. when looking at the bigger picture, i understand that monique was essential to the story, but i will not lie and say i was not bored when reading her chapters. i just could not find it in me to care much about her, even if that does sound harsh.

Spoiler

i was NOT expecting the insane plot twist with monique’s father. like OH MY GOD? with harry of all people! taylor you’re crazy for that one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Death, Biphobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

juliannalilly's review against another edition

funny sad fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Homophobia, Car accident, Terminal illness, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Suicide, Medical trauma, Body shaming, and Abortion

estefizaga's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book ... THIS BOOK!!! It's called "the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo", but the thing that grabs you is not the husbands, it's in fact, Evelyn Hugo and what she went through as a queer woman in the 60s-80s. GOD! THE FREAKING PLOT TWIST!!! 😩😩

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Cancer, Grief, Biphobia, Car accident, Suicide, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Alcohol

anneschreurs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Abortion, Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Addiction, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia

carolina2005's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Death of parent, Cancer, Death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Sexual content, and Suicide

selfdubbed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, and Biphobia

Moderate: Abortion

fynm's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcohol, Biphobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, and Physical abuse

mel_j's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Death, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Outing, Sexism, Cancer, and Sexual content

madzie's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Reid concocts a spell-binding tale about fictional celebrity Evelyn Hugo’s life dealing with fame, media, femininity, and sexuality. Through the use of soapy drama, you can’t help but read through this legend’s life in just the same way media often sells us the life of celebrities. Characters demonstrate an important theme of how complicated humans and human relationships are. However, unlike what a biography of a real celebrity may feel like, Reid never seems to cement her main character in the reality of humanity, leaving it hard for me to really feel, see, and connect with Evelyn throughout the story.

Further, although the main themes are highly important topics that are likely to make any novel worth a read, Reid’s chunky and heavy-handed writing and unnecessary plot points make it feel like Reid bit off a little bit more than she could chew. Some of her themes, such as her exploration of fame and womanhood, are spot on and make me wish she had focused more on a few themes rather than stretched out and only briefly mentioned them all. At various points throughout the novel, ideas feel shoehorned into the story without real exploration, as if Reid did not fully consider the implications of what she was saying and including. For example, she jumps from conflicting ideas about sexuality and sexual orientation, denying the overall understanding of the queer experience, and, despite the main character being bisexual, tells a queer story from a very allonormative and heteronormative position, which feels very strange. 

Important plot points or history seem mentioned in passing, but not important, and whole characters and Evelyn’s relationship with them are passed over without any type of feeling created for or around them, leaving a rather hollow ring to it as if it was just moments to get through. I enjoy that Reid attempted to tackle poignant ideas in her novel, but I wish she had changed aspects of how she approached some topics so she could create a fully-immersive story that really considered big ideas about who is erased from society, what humans do with the desires they have, and relationships humans have to each other.
Despite this, Reid's bold writing is commendable. In the end, Reid experiments with writing, themes, and characters in reflective and admirable ways, and despite aiming so hard for the bullseye, she never hits it dead-on in truly groundbreaking or reflective ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Car accident, Biphobia, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Acephobia/Arophobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Abortion, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Fatphobia