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

emotional 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

Evelyn Hugo was a book I came into with a lot of expectations and I’m pleased that it didn’t disappoint. It’s been a long time since I’ve cried at a book and some of the characters really tugged on my heart strings. As Monique, i think Jenkins does a wonderful job of portraying Evelyn how she wanted, devoted to family and to an extent, a ruthless person and how it impacted those closest to her. The only thing missing for me in the book was a little bit of context for the world outside the characters. At the beginning when the book is set during the 50’s, there’s a lot of talk of how Hollywood is at that time but the more you read, and the timeline goes on, there’s less reference to culture at the time which I feel halts the characters ageing. The husbands were all portrayed uniquely and it helped to envision Evelyn at each stage of her life, I just wish there was more reference to LGBT culture at the time, how impactful it would be to her career if it was revealed that she was bisexual, especially with only the brief mention of AIDS.  
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