Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

25 reviews

dirty_queer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Murder, Biphobia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Homophobia

gtwaddell's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Blood, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Death, and Alcohol

mirandyli's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

1.5

Do you want to read about the completely unrelatable struggles of famous white lesbian/bisexual millionaires? Do you want to read about the struggles people of color face, from the POV of a white author? If so, this is the book for you. 

Spoiler

Evelyn is so ashamed of her identities, to the point of changing her name and dying her hair blonde to hide the fact that she's Cuban, and eloping with a man to show the press she isn't in a relationship with Celia. She manipulates everyone around her and is not afraid to admit it. She does anything she can to be on top. As a result, she has millions of dollars but almost no friends, and she doesn't give a cent back to people like her until Harry and Celia decide to donate anonymously to the gay rights movement. She leaves her abusive husband and doesn't warn his next wife, despite knowing that she is being abused. Then she does a movie with him to boost his career.

Spoiler

You can tell this was written by a very privileged white woman. "Brilliant, Kindhearted, Tortured Harry Cameron???" Excuse me, but he isn't that kindhearted considering he drunkenly killed Monique's dad! And Evelyn covers it up - a white woman covering up the murder of a Black man to protect his white murderer. And Evelyn claims to think that giving Monique the rights to her life story is not her trying to make up for that, but because she is wrapping up all her loose ends before she dies. Evelyn barely shows any remorse for it, and Monique forgives her. Excuse me what??? In the end Monique describes Evelyn as "complicated." She is not complicated. She is self-serving and evil.

Spoiler

It seems like Evelyn and Monique were just characters created for diversity points. They are so unrealistically written.  Monique's biracial struggles are very obviously written by a white person. She marries a white man and feels secure that he'll never consider her "Black enough." Lmao what??? Evelyn even encourages Monique to do whatever it takes to get to the top. This is not what solidarity looks like. 

Spoiler

I relate to the struggle of being closeted. I even relate to the second-gen struggle of being ashamed of one's heritage. But if I'm gonna read a book written about these struggles, especially one written by a white woman, I would rather read about someone who doesn't feel shame about who they are. I definitely don't want to read a book about a person of color stepping on the backs of other people of color to get to the top.

I probably would have stopped reading this but I forced myself to finish it because it was on hold at the library. I honestly don't get the hype. This book was unrealistic at best and repugnantly offensive at worst. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death, Biphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Abortion, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Murder, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, and Sexism

lucille_c's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Medical content, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Classism, Abortion, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

kunma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The storyline of this book is really good, but there were a few parts that needed work, like when

Spoiler

Evelyn made up the scenario of her miscarriage, it obviously wasn't believable in any way because it wasn't even logical. It's not like the doctor would know before her she had a miscarriage.

That's why I'm only giving it 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Sexism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Addiction

Moderate: Miscarriage, Biphobia, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Pregnancy, and Suicide

katiem716's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, and Murder

bookdragonenby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.25

This book can be a lot of drama, the heartbreak is constant. I feel for Evelyn and this is a wonderful tale of love and loss. It opened my eyes to how quickly life can go speed past us. Inspiring and instilling a priority of loved ones that I greatly needed. The story is well written with rounded characters and a thorough telling of Evelyn's life. Overall I enjoyed reading this story and seeing how different the world was and still is about the others of our world.

Spoiler

I hated how Harry died, wishing for him to live happily after John died. Evelyn was wrong on so many levels for how she handled Harry's accident, I sympathize with her predicament losing a soul mate is never easy. The raw look at assault and abuse that takes place in the book was eye opening for me at how normalized it was for people at the time to hide the abuse and assault that they were faced with. Evelyn selling herself over the years to become what she wanted, to leave her sad life behind. Is bravery and using the resources given to you wisely.

She was flawed, selfish, and stubborn through out all her years. But she knew that and used that to her advantage like any man would and did. Like 'Goddamn' Don Adler did his entire existence.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Biphobia, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault, Abortion, Addiction, Rape, Sexism, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Murder

mooninthebooks's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Murder, Child death, and Death

diddydumplins's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

where do I start? The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo had both hands clasped around my neck, forcing me into the depths.  I hung on each and every written word, felt each emotions Evelyn felt and cried when she did.   No words can begin to illustrate the wonders of this book. I wholeheartedly recommend every bookworm to give this a chance. Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Abortion

minsreadingnook's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

3.75

3.9*
Thoughts:
The more I thought about the story as a whole, the more my rating dropped lol but If you would’ve asked me while I was reading the story, I would’ve given it a 5*. I feel like the ending was somehow… lackluster. I don’t know why to be honest, probably because I was just not ever invested in Monique as a character. Or maybe I just expected so much.

Connor’s name just reminds me of Connor Murphy but I love the way motherhood was portrayed.
Evelyn was such an interesting character to read. I devoured this book because of her.
I don’t like Celia that much but the nice parts of their relationship was pretty cute. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Cancer, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Pregnancy, Rape, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion