Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

83 reviews

cdoubet's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Outing, Gaslighting, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Hate crime, Body shaming, and Blood

Minor: Police brutality and Abortion

aspenfcoleman's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Car accident, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Stalking

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

An utter, earth-shattering masterpiece. “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” is both a stripped-down version of the bitter reality of Hollywood through the decades, and a glamorous tribute to unequivocal love and loss.

It’s quite shocking that it took me so long to read this, though I suspect a lot of it had to do with the fact that I had such high hopes and had heard so much unadulterated praise. Ever the pessimist, I was afraid it would disappoint me.

I’m VERY GLAD to report, that it did not disappoint me at all, and actually was much more than I hoped for. An incredible epic of a story-within-a-story, a biographical account of a fictional starlet with many marriages and headlines, but only one true love kept secret for most of her life.

I love TJR’s writing, her layered and complicated story building eclipsed only by the bold and complex characters she creates. Evelyn isn’t supposed to be someone you just love, but she is someone you absolutely root for, despite all her flaws. Because there’s Celia, the truth behind it all. (And Harry, whom I adored so much.) 

One of the best novels I’ve ever read that accurately tackles the duality of humanity and fame, with a central focus on the LGBTQ+ community. Phenomenal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Terminal illness, Drug use, Outing, Physical abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Abortion, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Eating disorder

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid tells the story of the titular Evelyn Hugo. 

Evelyn Hugo was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars from the 1960s to the 1980s and won international attention for her striking beauty. At age 79, Evelyn is ready to share all the details of her glamorous—and scandalous—life. 

She decides to give her story to Monique Grant, a virtually unknown reporter, to the surprise of everyone, including Monique. Recently separated from her husband and stuck in a dead end position at work, Monique seizes the opportunity to boost her writing career by agreeing to write Evelyn’s biography. Besides, if she didn’t agree to, Evelyn would have taken the sordid details of her life to her grave. 

As the two work together, going through the timeline of Evelyn’s struggle to break into Hollywood in the 1950s until her decision to retire from the business in the 1980s, Monique developed a connection to the icon. She rationalizes many of the cutthroat, calculated decisions Evelyn had to make along the way. Monique is also captivated on the reveal of Evelyn’s forbidden love, her greatest love out of all of her seven husbands. As the two women near the end of the interviews, Monique realizes that her life is irrevocably entwined with Evelyn’s in the most tragic ways. 

This was a book I’d been looking forward to reading for months and waited impatiently until I could check it out from my local library. Everyone in the bookish community has spoken so highly of “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” for years and after being blown away by the artistry of “Daisy Jones and the Six,” I had high expectations. But this book fell short. 

With the exception of Evelyn Hugo herself, the characters were bland. The b-plots were forgettable and even the overarching plot was largely predictable and uninspired. With that being said, the representation and diversity the characters and plot threads offered are excellent. Jenkins Reid did an excellent job balancing representing such a wide range of people for a modern audience in a way that was appropriate for the setting of the book. 

It is undeniable that Jenkins Reid has tremendous talent. Most authors steer away from overly explaining movements and describing items, but Jenkins Reid doesn’t and it works. Rather than inundating the reader with too much information, it creates a very specific image in the reader’s mind as they go through the book. 

Overall, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” is an interesting tale of a fictitious version of Old Hollywood loosely inspired by several real people from the time period. It subverted expectations in many ways, but was also predictable in others. The characters weren’t as complex as other characters Jenkins Reid has written, but the writing style of the book is unique enough to partially make up for that. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, Cancer, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Biphobia, Death, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, and Toxic relationship

savannahturner's review

challenging reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Addiction, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Outing, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Sexism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abortion and Child abuse

allielong19's review

emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

caffeinated_cassade's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

I generally knew what I was getting into with this book, but what I didn't expect was how taken I was by the platonic love story versus the romantic love story. I was completely wrapped up in Evelyn and Harry's relationship and really became invested in them. That being said, the ending felt rushed and that's more where it loses a star for me, as well as with the lack of build for Monique's character. I felt very indifferent towards her by the end, which I felt isn't how I should feel about her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Abortion, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racism, Classism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death, and Cancer

ellaskrovset's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

My number 1 favourite of all time

SEARCH UP TW<3

“Make them pay you what they would pay a mediocre white man.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault

ttumbletree's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Biphobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Injury/injury detail, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Suicide, Abortion, and Body shaming

sofiadalmeidaa's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

It was good at the beginning and with the development of the story it became boring and not surprising at all; very predictable and more of the same🤷🏻‍♀️ Not understanding all the hype around this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Minor: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness