Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo grants us a center-stage view into the life of the fictional Evelyn Hugo, a movie star who rose from nothing to eventually rank among some of Hollywood’s greatest names in film.
Monique Grant, a writer for the magazine Avant, is one day pulled aside by her boss Frankie and is informed that Evelyn Hugo, revered movie star and Oscar winner, has handpicked her to write a piece on her.
Though completely taken by surprise and still not entirely sure that she’s the best person for the job, Monique heads over to Evelyn’s place in New York, meets with her, and soon begins to realize the force of nature that Evelyn Hugo is. She learns that Evelyn isn’t really interested in doing a piece for the magazine, she actually wants Evelyn to write her biography.
As Evelyn begins to recount her long career, her fierce, grab-life-by-the-horns attitude is revealed. With her mother dead when Evelyn was just 14 and growing up with an abusive father, Evelyn jumps at the first chance she gets to escape a life that promises nothing but misery. So she lands her first husband, a lighting tech who works in Hollywood. Evelyn sees her chance to put her foot in the door and start an acting career. Fearless and sometimes even without scruples, Evelyn climbs the ladder, using people as she needs to to get what she wants. Thus, she moves from husband to husband, some whom she married out of convenience, fewer out of love; her star, however, always steadily rising.
During this time, Monique comes to learn a few life lessons from Evelyn. Mainly that to get where she wants she has to take what she wants and stop waiting for anyone to give it to her. Monique then begins to assert herself, in her job, and even in her marriage which is far from salvaging.
But just as Evelyn begins to grow on Monique, she reveals a tragic secret that connects both their pasts and could potentially turn Monique against her.
Though the narrative sometimes felt a bit rushed, and though maybe a couple of Evelyn’s husbands felt a little irrelevant to the story (perhaps just existing to add numbers to her history of husbands), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is entertaining from beginning to end.
Evelyn’s character is absorbing and calculating but also admirable. I’m always pleased to find a female protagonist who quite literally gives no fucks about what people think of her. It’s refreshing to read about a woman, even if she’s fictional, who burns whatever path she needs to as long as it means achieving her goals. Evelyn is a symbol of strength, not just for her art but also for expressing her sexuality in ways many women would never dare to due to societal constraints.
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. — Taylor Jenkins Reid
At every moment, Evelyn steals the spotlight, bringing Monique nearly down to side character status. Monique’s life, in itself, isn’t very interesting. She’s currently split from her husband, and Evelyn coaxes her to find the power to break it off for good and begin divorce proceedings. However, this drama extends for about a total of two scenes which at times feel intrusive. There just isn’t enough in the narrative to make us care for Monique’s story. So we trudge through the bits that talk about her life, simply waiting to get back to Evelyn’s story.
The twist, or supposed shocking secret that Evelyn reveals to Monique, is actually not that much of a shock. Throughout the story, Reid builds up the crescendo leading up to this big revelation, and when it does come, the reader is left empty and wondering, “Is that it?”
It’s supposed to be this dark and tragic secret, but it’s hard to feel invested in it because Evelyn and Monique barely know each other. Not to mention, Evelyn has such disregard for what people think of her that it almost doesn’t even matter at all. The plot twist ends up seeming like a gimmick just to create a deeper connection between the two main characters. If you ask me, I would’ve been happy reading about a journalist who writes a piece on a famous Hollywood star without the added twist.
Nevertheless, the reveal neither adds nor takes anything from the story since the real heart of it lies with Evelyn serving as a female icon of strength, perseverance and determination. (I also feel that it touches on issues of race, but that’s a topic for another day.) Evelyn is inspirational in that she doesn’t take no for an answer and in that her biggest strength is also her biggest flaw. But she moves through Hollywood taking what she knows she deserves and stopping to accommodate no one.
Evelyn is also one of very few Latinx protagonists. This makes her even more fascinating to me. The story never forgets to delve into this part of her story — the racism and discrimination she experiences as Hollywood tries to erase her Latinidad by making her a platinum blonde and changing her name.
Topics of sexuality and racism are also touched upon, making it an all-around diverse and inclusive book that shines a light on topics readers are more than eager to read about.