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book review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rachel20 Comments

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THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid
★★★★★
Atria Books, 2017

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the most wonderfully immersive book I could have chosen to read over a weekend when I desperately needed an escape from reality. I hadn’t really heard much about the plot of this book going into it, and honestly, that’s how I’d recommend approaching it if at all possible, because it just sweeps you up into such a compelling and unexpected tale from the very first page.

The characters in this book are all brilliant and well-crafted, none more so than Evelyn, our ruthless and at times unlikable protagonist. If you’re familiar with my tastes, you’ll know that I absolutely adore antiheroines when well written, and Evelyn is so vibrant and multifaceted she practically jumps off the page. Though it’s only been a few days since I’ve finished this, I can already tell that Evelyn is going to be utterly unforgettable. But Evelyn didn’t entirely steal the show away from this book’s host of intriguing supporting characters – each one of them was so three-dimensional it was easy to forget this story is entirely fictional.

There were several elements that ended up being hugely pleasant surprises – the inclusion of several LGBT+ characters being the main one (I won’t say too much more here so I don’t spoil anything, but, suffice to say this book is not half as heterosexual as its title would imply). What also surprised me was how invested I became in this story. I flew through this 400-page long book in only 2 days – I couldn’t put it down and I was rewarded with a conclusion so beautiful and bittersweet it brought me to tears.

Everyone should read this book. I realize I’ve said absolutely nothing about the actual plot here, but this is a ‘take my word for it’ type situation if I ever saw one.

20 thoughts on “book review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid”

  1. Interesting. I have heard mostly good things about this – but that cover is seriously keeping me away.

    Do you think I would like the book? I am SO unconvinced, but everyone is raving and I feel left out. Also I am having THE worst reading month and something immersive might help. Help!

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    • That’s so funny, I actually like the cover against my better judgment. I’m usually over the whole women in sexy poses on covers trend, but the shade of green is just so good.

      Anyway. READ IT! It’s not as literary as a lot of what you’ve been reading recently, but maybe that’ll make for a nice change? I have a feeling you’d like it… not a strong enough feeling to wager a large sum of money on it, but I think you should go for it. And the good news is that it’s a VERY fast read so it’s not a huge time investment even if you end up hating it (which I don’t think you will).

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      • I hate that cover.

        I think the very first review I read of this was a negative one. Isn’t it weird how that changes how we approach books? Because every single review since has been beyond positive; and everyone seems to love it, whether it’s people who usually read literary fiction or those who don’t read general fiction at all. I really might give it a go.

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      • I’m totally the same way, I sometimes base my entire impression of a book off one person’s opinion. Not consciously of course, but sometimes I don’t even notice that I have a visceral ‘ugh’ reaction to a book I’ve never even read.

        Also, after glancing at my Goodreads friends’ reviews I’ve noticed that the negative ones tend to be from people who listened to the audiobook, so maybe stay away? I don’t know what the narrator’s like but I can definitely see where this would work better on the page.

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  3. I felt the exact same way about this book-escapism at its absolute best, but with more depth than expected. Wasn’t Evelyn a fabulous character? It’s been almost a year since I read it and I still love thinking back to it.

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  6. Yay I’m so happy you liked it, Rachel!! Evelyn sounds like a great character and I’m so intrigued by the plot because I barely know anything about it. I think I’ll start reading it next week 😉

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    • Same here! I think I read the summary when it was first published but by the time I got around to reading it I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be about, and that turned out to be the perfect way to approach it. It was such a twisty and engrossing tale!

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