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That book dragged on toward the end. I was like will this story ever end? I agree. Fine.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who found this book disappointing. I'm only halfway through it, and I feel invested and even intrigued because apparently there's a plot twist, but I feel somewhat bored. For someone who we've been told is the most important person of the moment, Evelyn Hugo's life seems pretty tame. A year ago I read Jennette McCurdy's autobiography, and it was 10 times more interesting and chaotic than Evelyn's, and she isn't even a big star. So, how can Evelyn's story be so generic and dull if she is supposed to be the greatest star ever? There have been some highlights, which I've liked a lot, like the abuse she suffered when she was married to her 2nd husband, but even that became boring after I spent almost 3 hours reading the same things over and over. The pacing has been unbelievably slow and the events as of now not that interesting. Going through the husbands' lives feels more like a chore than a recreational activity.

Congratulations

Omg Dowry of Blood is so good! Can't wait for you to read it 👀

“ this author gets it” yess she does this quote is going on my mirror

I specifically kept a hairstyle like Ruby, because I hoped that if thered be a movie, I'd be casted as her😭😭

congratulations on graduating! is your dissertation published somewhere by any chance? it sounds really interesting!

I read this book because it was SOO highly rated, but I felt weird for not liking it enough. I'm so happy I found this video, because I now know I'm not the only one who feels that way!

I didn't see the twist with Monique coming either. I thought maybe she would be Evelyn or Celia's daughter somehow but I didn't predict what actually happened. The suicide was very predictable though.

Definitely going to read this :)

remembering things is overrated as heck. love this stuff

matt bacon mention

Thank you for this video! It's a joy watching your honest opinions. Thank you for also introducing Ceremony to me. I have always wondered how Native American veterans have felt. Especially if they have been in combat. Again, thank you!

It's a brilliant book, Yates is the laureate of disappointment and self-deception. He manages to capture a sort of alcohol-soaked, suburban alienation in clear, readable prose. His book "The Easter Parade" is up there with "Revolutionary Road", same sense of sadness only it's from the perspective of one of two sisters, might be a good one for a further video. As to why the book isn't better known? I think Yates was never particularly fashionable even when he was alive, and the further we get from that late 50s/early 60s environment, maybe the less relevant the books seemed. He did have a mini-revival in the 2000s with the Leonardo Di Caprio film and his books were finally republished, but it's a shame that he still languishes in relative obscurity.

I have read all of Ulysses. And all of Portrait of the Artist. And enough of Finnegan's Wake to know that I will never waste my time with it. Maybe one day I'll read Dubliners, just because it's a very small book, and it's the only major work left of his to read. No one can say I haven't given the guy a fair shake. I despise him. There are many books that I don't relate to or find particularly interesting, but there have only ever been one or two authors who made me actively angry, and Joyce is one of them. Everything about him oozes pretention and a desire to impress and confuse rather than to communicate. I just see a desperately insecure man pulling out every academic trick he can conjure to try to prove how brilliant he is to the reader. Reading Portrait of the Artist cemented this perception for me. The painfully long-winded (like 40 pages) section where he's wrestling with his catholic guilt over having had sex, followed by the "tundish scene" where he uses an obscure word which an English priest wrongly corrects him on, and subsequently has some sort of existential crisis over the notion that English isn't his native language, make me think this guy's psyche was annihilated by Catholic guilt and the undying obsession the Irish have over their national identity. The only writers I hate more than Joyce are the Beat Generation writers. A bunch of moral degenerate, pseudo-intellectual sociopaths writing about committing felonies for "kicks" and pretending that putting a quasi-religious veneer of Eastern mysticism somehow makes it noble or artsy, rather than criminal and predatory.

You have a really nice understandable voice/accent keep it up!!!!

kindred is on my shelves, you're making me excitedd

*I HATED THIS FUCKING BOOK* 🤷‍♂🤷‍♂

I just finished it, and I feel the same. I LOVED Daisy Jones & the Six way more than Evelyn Hugo !

Couldn’t agree more with you

I think this might be the second or third time I come across one of your tier-ranking literature videos, and I have to be perfectly honest with you, I lol'd every.time. That bit on JJoyce --> peak comedy, thank you so much! <3 hang in there girl, love your content

funny actress is funny

I fell in love with the description of Macbeth play, it was so magical I can’t even explain it

Im legit obsessed with this series first read the books when i was 8 and now 5yrs later and im 13 and its still my fav book series in the world!

The return of the queen! This is the perfect replacement for not seeing you irl for so long❤🥰

Welcome back and congratulations on the graduation!! I also just graduated, so I know how rewarding the feeling is!

I can’t lie, I am in genuine disbelief anyone in their right mind can prefer If We Were Villains to The Secret History. It is the knock off of all knock offs.

Evelyn was insufferable. She would be a better side character. I couldn’t stand reading her life and justifications for her fucked up choices. She didn’t grow from her mistakes either. I hate abortion and know it’s a lot heavier of a topic than what was shown. I don’t agree with choosing to die and letting someone commit suicide either. Hearing reviews saying the POC were shoe horned in too and their accuracy isn’t deep enough either. It was all over the place.

I wasn’t impressed. Solid 3.5 for me. It felt like a lot of facts on a timeline, character development was minimal, the twist was predictable. I read in a day, don’t see the hype, I agree that it’s “fine”

Just another book romanticizing malicious,immorality n debauchery Tired of this push in stories.

I just finished reading this book and i honestly totally agree... its fine BUTTTT it got me back into reading! which is something ive been trying to do since i finished college. yes the book is mediocre and fine but its such an easy read and kinda......... sucks u in?? so thats what i liked mostly about it lol

I completely agree that the book is just fine.

Thanks for sharing your point of view. Appreciate it.

I felt the same exact way

I didn't have high hopes with this one so I wasn't disappointed by the book itself, but rather by the fact that it's so popular and so many people deem it deserving of five stars. I do think, as you also noted, that the book excels at being engaging and making you want to know more, but I also think the reason why it's so easy to read is because the writing is repetitive, obvious and redundant, as much of the dialogue. Despite all of this I did get some enjoyment out of it and liked Evelyn as a character (even though she doesn't really have an arc... when she's finally ready to lose everything for Celia, she doesn't have anything to lose anymore!). It does feel lonely when you don't share the same experience as the majority, but I think it's good for it to happen every once in a while.

I agree it didn't stay with me. Also they market this book as having a jaw dropping twist, but I didn't find being bisexual to be a jaw dropping twist. I know there was that other thing about being connected to the narrator whose dad used to be with her ex husband but that was still meh to me.

It didn’t live up to the title for me.

I thought it was just fine too. I honestly didn't really see the whole hype. One of the things that bothered me other than that stupid contrived twist that was all kinds of stupid. I'm a history nerd and I felt that if you are gonna write a book that covers several decades you think those things would have been discussed. I mean Eveyln is supposed to be a Cuban American who's white-passing, which is kinda an open secret in Hollywood yet she has no thoughts or feelings on Rita Moreno winning an Oscar in 1962. Or Rita Hayworth, who also had to erase her whole heritage/culture like Eveyln did to fit into Hollywood. No comments on Marylin Monroe, who was another blonde bombshell, that Evelyn would have competed against for roles. She could have talked about how women like Marylin were used, abused, and discarded by Hollywood. Or the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, there is some mention of the Queer Movement, yet no comments on the HIV/AIDS crisis. The book felt more like a Wikipedia page with a lot of stuff that was just surface level.

I felt the same way & going to book club tonight to discuss, Im so glad I watched this video , thank you for validating my feelings lol Ive read more exciting women in Nora Roberts books back in the 90s

Yep, agree with everything. I was also expecting some unbelievable plot twist like her murdering 4 husbands 😂 or dying without saying the whole truth and the journalist finding out what hadn’t been said like some big secret revelation Evelyn and her life felt shallow to me Husband-new movie-Celia-husband-new movie-Celia and the whole book like this 😅

I finished reading "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" today and I came to read the review because I also found this book okay and I really wanted to know if the problem is with me or this book..😂😂

100%.

I LOVE the Ruby Redfort-series!

I can agree with every point you made. Heartly dissapointing and refreshing to here youre take.

Yup I agree completely. This was 3 stars for me. Overhyped. I almost Dnf’d but I finished it. It was okay.

I love this video because English is not my first language but even with your accent, I can still understand it! to be honest, I don't really like the competition between tsh and iwwv, i mean reading is fun because even with the same base (dark academia, students, a murder) you can have different stories, and different characters and different feelings!! and its a good thing!! yes, I tend to think that tsh is better than iwwv on a writing point of view, but does that mean I don't like iwwv? no, I adore this book!! in fact, I liked iwwv characters much more than tsh, even if it is one of the best books I've read, and even when donna tartt is one of my favorite authors ! so in the end I think its just two amazing books that should not be put in competition :) plus I think its a little exaggerated to say that M.L Rio has entirely copy tsh just because the atmosphere is the same ^^'

*Promo sm* 😪

finally someone I can relate with!!!

I own just over 250 books

Rooftoppers is AMAZING!! I met Katherine Rundell in the summer and it was a fantastic experience