Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

1575 reviews

jennp28's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There is a lot to unpack in this book. It’s intense and it definitely made me feel things. I varied throughout the book with how I felt about Evelyn - admiring her tenacity, feeling sorry for her, hating her… and I cried through the last few chapters. Themes of finding your true self, loving who you want (but marrying who can help you climb the ladder), friendship, gay identify, and of course old Hollywood glamour. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Death, Child death, and Cancer

mnek's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Cancer, Sexism, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide and Drug abuse

jessicadr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

5.0

This is my first 5 star read of the year. The book moved very quickly from the beginning. Although there were a couple of times I tried to figure out while I was still reading, the twists at the end were so worth it. The feelings I have for this book are very controversial. This is definitely a book I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Alcoholism

wild_er_ness's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I preferred everything from Evelyn’s POV - it had a stronger voice and emotional depth. The prose from Evelyn’s POV is stronger too. 

I get that Monique is still growing into herself but found her narration and character a little cliché. I always found myself annoyed when the story switched back to her. 

The intertwining of their stories was interesting but didn’t affect me in some profound way. I was more moved by Evelyn’s singular account of her relationships. So, I’d recc for fun but it wasn’t life changing for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer and Abortion

jjhina's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Grief, Car accident, Alcoholism, Suicide, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Alcohol

jmyers1's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. Its so vivid and complicated- I found myself almost googling the characters to make sure they weren't real because I believed it so much. 

Spoiler

I was not expecting the twist at the end. I had a few thoughts about what it might be, but once it came I so surprised. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

aoifeprettypurplepolkadots's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent

charlottecathb's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I had no idea this was going to be about more than seven husbands and i’m so glad I got to find out myself.
I love old hollywood <3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Death and Suicide

sugarwookiee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Car accident, Death, Cancer, Alcoholism, Outing, Sexism, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion, Blood, and Medical content

kingcrookback's review against another edition

emotional 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

...I wish I liked this the way I've seen other people like it. I don't hate it, by any means, but this really didn't live up to the hype for me. I'm all for diving into the nitty-gritty of fame and the panopticon of celebrity. I even found it engaging to tick off the references to real famous people and Old Hollywood stars - Evelyn as an amalgam of Rita Hayworth, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, and Joan Didion, Harry's car accident analogous to Montgomery Clift's and his being closeted similar to Cary Grant's - and I appreciated that Reid didn't strain credulity by shoehorning or name-dropping actual celebrities. But the only part of this book's treatment of fame that truly engaged me was

Spoiler

the transactional exchange between Evelyn and her driver after Harry's car accident

because it stood out as one of the only times I could viscerally feel how grimy the business of fame could be.

Little else about the book truly grabbed me. Evelyn was handled in this blandly girlboss-y feminist way and had a jarringly modern understanding of queerness for the 1950s-70s. The amount of time we got to spend with Celia wasn't really conducive to building an actual attachment to her character, ditto Monique. The memoir narrative felt unmoored in time, despite the descriptions of clothing that were supposed to help in that respect. Like, I don't care what people were wearing, tell me about what attitudes were like in that decade, that year. If you want to talk about the fashion so badly, why not make some connection to how clothing can signify in microcosm what was going on in society at large? Once again, I honestly just wish I saw what other people see in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Cancer, Suicide, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death of parent, and Car accident

Minor: Abortion, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest