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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Stuart Turton

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: January 31, 2019

Discussion: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hard...

Discussion leader: Aqsa

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The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: Reviews
By Aqsa , Dracarys! · 13 posts · 29 views

last updated Jan 29, 2019 11:03AM

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: Chapters 11-20
By Aqsa , Dracarys! · 14 posts · 24 views

last updated Jan 23, 2019 11:54PM

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What Members Thought

Jan 16, 2020 Whitney rated it it was ok

Shelves: popsugar-reading-challenge-2020

I wanted to DNF this less than 50% in. But NO ONE was willing to spoil this book ( I couldn't find ANY spoilers, try as I might). Everyone kept telling me the pay off was "worth it" and to finish the book. So I finished the book.

Y'ALL ARE LIARS!

This book was SO HARD to get through and the "pay off" was NOT worth it! There were too many characters, to begin with. Aiden Bishop wakes up as eight different people throughout the book, coming back to some of them multiple times. Additionally, there I wanted to DNF this less than 50% in. But NO ONE was willing to spoil this book ( I couldn't find ANY spoilers, try as I might). Everyone kept telling me the pay off was "worth it" and to finish the book. So I finished the book.

Y'ALL ARE LIARS!

This book was SO HARD to get through and the "pay off" was NOT worth it! There were too many characters, to begin with. Aiden Bishop wakes up as eight different people throughout the book, coming back to some of them multiple times. Additionally, there are side characters, rival characters, love interest(?) characters (I'm still unsure if Anna is a love interest or a friend, to be honest). Way too many to keep track of if you aren't reading this super quickly. Definitely not a book you can put down and pick back up later.

Before moving on from the characters, I just have to say that I did not appreciate the CONSTANT berating of Cecil Ravencourt for being overweight. I feel like books where the character wakes up as different people are red flags for me now because this is the second one I've read where they wake up as a plus-size person and do nothing but berate them the entire time. I will give Turton that Aiden EVENTUALLY (read: WAYYYYYYY later in the book) admits that Ravencourt's mind is an asset even if his body limits him physically, but at that point, it was too little, too late for me. He had spent 10 chapters in Cecil whining about how he needs breaks to walk across the house and every chair he sits in is near breaking and he can't bathe on his own. He says at one point

"Though this isn't my body, I'm humiliated by it, appalled by the waves of flesh lapping against my hips, the way my legs rub together as I walk...I resemble some grotesque caricature of the human body, my skin jaundiced and swollen...Overcome by disgust and humiliation , I let out a sob."

This disgusted me. I am plus-size. I can walk across a house without needing breaks (I am a HUGE fan of the Disney Parks and can walk around them all day, no problem. Those are frequently 8-10 mile walking days). I can get myself in and out of a bathtub. The issue is treated as if it's SOLELY because he's plus-size, but it's because he's 60 years old, as well! The issues he's having more directly relate to his age than his size, but the size compounds them. This alone took off one star for me. It was absolutely unnecessary for there to be 10 chapters dedicated to fatphobic writing.

My other HUGE issue with this is that the way the book is written doesn't allow for the reader to attempt to solve the mystery along with the protagonist. Oftentimes, I feel like mystery writers are beating me over the head with clues and it's easy to figure out, but this one was so devoid of clues and the reveal was so outlandish, that no one would have reasonably figured it out. This is a misstep. The book was already creative in its narrative format. It didn't need so many twists and turns and out of left field "reveals". There were literally no clues that allowed the reader to "solve" the ending. I didn't enjoy that.

Just as an aside, my copy has discussion questions and asked what the "1/2" death in the title is. It's the way to change the title for the US to distinguish it from the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I'm sure there's a half-assed way to "answer" this question, but that's the actual answer, so I found that funny it was included.

This was a 2.5. Fatphobic and unsolvable. Would not recommend.

Popsugar Reading Prompt: A book by or about a journalist ...more

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Jul 04, 2019 Cyndi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Take “And Then There Were None” and set it to “Groundhogs Day.” Our hero wakes up in the woods with no memory and in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel. As the story progresses we learn that he will move between the bodies of all the participants of Evelyn’s party until he discovers her murderer. There are so many twists and turns in this sci fi who-dun-it that you’ll need a score card. But it is an excellent story that gets better and better as the story builds.

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Apr 23, 2018 Anna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, sci-fi

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an intricately-woven sci-fi mystery. I am awed that the author was able to keep track of all of his overlapping plots.

This is because the story's narrator wakes up not knowing who he is in a forest during an action scene. However, he makes his way to the manor where he is staying, along with many other guests. He soon discovers that the body he is currently in is not his own and that he will be given a total of eight hosts, to relive the day and solve th ...more

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