The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

BookTok Books are either fire or a dumpster fire. But we will get to the dumpster fire another day, because The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the good type of fire. The one that keeps your toes warm and lights your night, radiates heat like a blanket and seasons the dark sky, this book will be a current of bright warmth through your fingertips as you turn the pages. Not only does Reid capture her audience’s interest from the first page, but Reid also demonstrates how diversity can play a role in any text. The setting, time period, and subject matter are no excuse for white washing a world that was never white only.

This review will be brief and ambiguous. I assume that if you made it to this review and are curious about the hype surrounding this book then you’ve been pretty dutiful in avoiding spoilers for the last 4 years. And I won’t ruin that momentum or this book for you. In my opinion, however, this book is best read with a blind eye of sorts. Letting things unravel and role out similarly to human nature is the truest form to experience this book.

I will say, while fictional, this book is more historically accurate than most stories from and of that time. People seem to forget that LGBTQIA+ members have lived through every era and century. Alexander the Great, for instance, was famously bisexual during his escapades expanding the Roman Empire. While we know now that varying sexual identities and preferences occur throughout nature, in the birds and the bees, we somehow still blinders on more recent pasts. This book reminds us that while some stories weren’t allowed then, that doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.

This story also reminds us of the fluidity of family. Within these 400 pages, readers witness the shapes and sizes that families can transform into. No matter the formation, love is love and it fills every iteration of such. If you don’t already know that, you’ll be able to witness it thanks to Reid.

You’ll also be able to check your prejudices the same way the world readjusted theirs after the death of Marilyn Monroe. But that’s all I’m going to say on that topic until you read the book. Has this been sitting on your TBR pile for awhile?