Book Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

By Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Finished reading: 16/05/2020)

4.5/5 stars

Glittering, swoon-worthy, feisty.

“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is 'you're safe with me'- that's intimacy.”

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo follows unknown magazine reporter Monique who is summoned by a Hollywood icon, Evelyn Hugo, to interview Evelyn for the first time in many years. Evelyn recounts her journey through the glamour of Old Hollywood and her seven marriages, telling the truth of what really went on behind the headlines. However, Monique senses that there is a reason why Evelyn summoned her, and she knows she must wait until the very end before she finds out the truth.

With everyone raving about this book over the past three years, I felt it was finally about time I gave it a read. I admit, I was concerned it would not live up to my expectations, given that seemingly everyone was claiming that it is their favourite book ever. It was actually very different from how I imagined it to be. However, I really really enjoyed this book. Mostly because it is about time we saw a bestselling F/F romance novel about a bisexual, Cuban woman lighting up Old Hollywood. Diverse representation in books is so important to me and it brought me so much joy to read a novel centred around such a powerful, queer, non-white woman. More books like this please!!

The story is told from dual perspectives. Monique’s story is set in present day, in which she interviews Evelyn whilst dealing with her own divorce. Evelyn’s story spans from the 1950s to the 1980s, describing her seven marriages. These perspectives are also interspersed with snippets from news/tabloid/magazine/blog articles relating to each narrative. Whilst I adored Evelyn’s narrative, I disliked Monique’s. I personally found that these present-day segments ruined the momentum and pace of the historical segments. I was often so sucked into Evelyn’s story that I found suddenly switching to Monique’s perspective too sobering from the dizziness of the Hollywood glamour. If Monique’s story had been half as interesting as Evelyn’s, then I think this would have created a great contrast between light and dark. However, for me, I just found Monique’s story lacked the substance I craved. Without giving any spoilers, I found the link between Monique and Evelyn to be underwhelming and felt that it swerved away from the key themes that had been set up throughout Evelyn’s story. I would have perhaps preferred a present-day prologue and epilogue but kept Evelyn’s story the core focus throughout the book to avoid ruining the pace of the story. It would have been nice if these present-day scenes tied up the themes in Evelyn’s story rather than forming a twist which side-tracked these themes that had been built up from the beginning. But despite my distaste for Monique’s narrative, this did not take away from my love of Evelyn’s narrative.

I’m a sucker for a classic black and white movie. I knew this book would be right up my street. It gave me all the glitz and glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood that my heart desired. From the LA setting, to the sparkly dresses, down to the celebrity scandals. I felt fully immersed in this setting and this made it feel all the more real. I wish I could go and watch all of Evelyn Hugo’s movies and look up photos from her premieres and award shows. Evelyn’s story was such a perfectly executed microcosm of this culture. I’m not an expert but I could tell that Reid had done her research just by all the beautiful details she added.

What I loved most about this book is how phenomenally nuanced Evelyn’s character is. She’s ruthless and ambitious and feisty. But she’s also a victim of abuse, a sexualised young woman and a pessimistic lover. I love how she embraces her sexuality as both a blessing and a curse. I love how unapologetic she is, she refuses to live her life regretting her decisions and still stands by them as an older woman. She is a victim but also a fighter and she has such a wise understanding of pain and love. We get so many wonderful quotes from her dialogue; it was difficult just picking one for this review! I think we can all learn something from Evelyn Hugo, no matter your age or gender. And I think that that, above all else, is why this book is so adored. Like Monique, we all wish we had a little bit of Evelyn Hugo’s confidence and fearlessness to get where we want to go. We all want to love and be loved messily and unapologetically.

But this book is also not just a love story, contrary to what it seems. For me it highlighted what it is to be oppressed. We, unfortunately, live in a predominantly white-ruled, hetero-normative, and patriarchal society. We see Evelyn navigate this by hiding her true nationality and sexuality whilst challenging her role as a woman in Hollywood throughout the novel. I like to think that we live in a slightly better world than Evelyn’s in the 1950s. However, those who are oppressed are continually forced to hide their true selves just as Evelyn crafts her life for the public eye. Evelyn shows us not to be afraid of who we are by finally telling the truth about her life. It was these themes that gave the novel depth beyond the love story that it is on the surface.

Overall, I think my expectations were too high going into this book because of all the hype. I think if I had come across this book without any prior knowledge of it maybe I would have been more surprised. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and believe it is such an important book. In this sense, it really does deserve all the hype it gets. I would recommend it to anyone, even if it does not sound like your cup of tea, because I think everyone can find something to take away from it. I really look forward to seeing what Reid produces in the future because I love her writing style so much and the stories that she crafts are so beautifully executed.