The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel

*Please be advised this review is a SPOILER review*

I usually divide my book review into sections: plot, writing, characters, and thoughts. However, I wanted to do something a little different with this review since I just simply want to talk about how magical this book is as a whole.

This is my second Taylor Jenkins Reid book, the first one I read was Daisy Jones & The Six. I have watched countless BookTube videos and read countless tweets on the comparisons of both Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. People recommended that you should read Evelyn Hugo before Daisy Jones because we wouldn’t be disappointed blah blah blah. Blah because that’s exactly what it is. There is absolutely no comparing Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. I loved both of them equally as much for different reasons. The writing styles are completely different. I don’t believe that one is better than the other. In other words, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a genius and I need to read all her books.

Anywho, I cried. I cried a lot while reading this book. You can easily say that Evelyn Hugo is an unlikable character. However I loved her. I loved her ruthlessness and her knowingness of the power she had and how she used that power to get what she wanted. Yes, there are things she did that I would never do like sleep with people to climb to the top or get married for less than 24 hours just to pull the tabloids away from the gossip that was going around at the time. Her morally gray character is something that I loved because although I didn’t agree with some of her decisions, I understood it. It was a different time back then, there were different rules and she played them all to her liking.

My favorite characters were pretty much the main characters; Evelyn Hugo, Celia St. James, Monique Grant, and Harry Cameron. I loved the dynamic between Evelyn and Harry. I wasn’t even surprised as to why they had married, it made all the sense in the world to me. Keeping each other safe in a time where the LGBTQ+ community was not accepted at all. They’re platonic relationship really made me smile but his tragic death shattered my whole existence. Seeing how people kept leaving Evelyn’s life in tragic ways one by one broke me down.

My favorite relationship was between Evelyn Hugo and Celia St. James. For a book that is titled The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I was not expecting this budding beautiful strong relationship between them both. Everything they went through together and how they tried to make it work when the odds were stacked up against them, the ending where Celia tells Evelyn to marry her brother so when Celia dies, she’ll have everything…I get teary eyed just thinking about it. WOW WHAT A BOOK! Reid had me staying up later than usual just to finish this book. They’re relationship mirrored real life relationships which is what made me love them even more and how they always came back to one another pulled at my heartstrings.

But can we talk about that plot twist that I was not expecting at all???? The story of Monique Grant’s dad?!? OMFG! I was literally yelling! I did not expect that at all. Once again, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a genius!! It was executed so well because it was a hidden twist, something that was not mentioned much. Actually, I would love a companion novel only on Monique and her life after Seven Husbands because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NOW THAT SHE’S RICH AND DID SHE TELL DAVID TO GO F*** OFF AND WHAT ABOUT HER MOM?! I have all these questions that I want answers too lol.

Also!!! Not to mention that ending really did it for me. How Evelyn still took control of her life and when it was going to end????? UGH THE WATER WORKS!! This is the type of book that will stay with me forever. I will forever recommend and I need more books like this.

I am often a higher than maybe warranted rating giver…always with a little more positivity than maybe a novel deserves, but this one is truly a 5 stars earner! This is the second Taylor Jenkins Reid novel that I have read (Daisy Jones & The Six being the first) and I truly enjoyed every bit of it!

I don’t enjoy reviews that re-tell/ re-hash the words written on a book jacket that describes the story in depth. I much more prefer reviews that tell how a story made them feel, and how it affected them. So if you are looking for a complete breakdown of the plot, this review will not be for you.

On to my thoughts; from the time the story introduces Evelyn Hugo, I couldn’t get a handle on whether or not I liked the character, but boy, did I admire the heck out of her. She is so multifaceted, with so many layers…as most, if not all humans truly are…but the honesty with which Hugo has embraced this about herself, all of the good and horrendous acts, is astounding and worthy of praise. Very few people have the courage to be that unabashedly themselves. Evelyn Hugo may have done bad things ( I think whether the acts were truly bad or not really is up to each reader) but Evelyn not only owns up to anything she has done, she completely embraces them and not with pithy justifications.

Monique, the magazine columnist whom Evelyn chooses to be her biographer is also an interesting character. You can actually see her progress of becoming her own woman through out the process of hearing Evelyn’s story. In the beginning of the book, she seems very unsure of herself…almost a paler version and while working with, and getting to know Evelyn, Monique seems to find herself and become the lioness she is.

The novel addresses so many other, relevant issues: whom we are “allowed “ by society to be, who we are “allowed” to love, and how media (social and otherwise) control the mainstream ideals and biases. Addressing issues of misogyny, sexism, racism, anti-LGBTQ+, reminding the reader that none of these issues are new, but have been around since the dawn of time. They’ve just buried underneath the BS.

This quote sums it up for me:

“Nobody deserves anything,” Evelyn says. “It’s simply a matter of who’s willing to go and take it for themselves. And you, Monique, are a person who has proven to be willing to go out there and take what you want. So be honest about that. No one is just a victim or a victor. Everyone is somewhere in between. People who go around casting themselves as one or the other are not only kidding themselves, but they are also painfully unoriginal.”

I had this on my TBR list for months. The storyline did not sound like something I would be interested in. I was wrong. I am unwell. I am obsessed. I need more.

I DEVOURED THIS BOOK IN 24 hours!!

I am going to have to take a break from reading for a couple of days to process this. I am bawling my eyes out. Evelyn is a character who will stay with me forever. I know I am being dramatic right now.. but you won’t understand until you read it too.

Taylor Jenkins Reid knocked this out of the park. I feel as if I know Evelyn in real life and I miss hearing her stories already. I could have read 600 more pages of this.

Only one other book has ever made me cry. What is happening to me? I am emotionally unstable after this..

If this is on your TBR list just DO IT and thank me later.

The media is going to tell whatever story they want to tell. Therefore, Evelyn felt it was time to control the narrative for her own life.

…

Back in the 50s, Evelyn rose to fame as an actress. Female actors in Hollywood faced a complex and often contradictory landscape. While they were often idolized and seen as glamorous, they also experienced significant limitations and societal pressures. They were expected to maintain a certain image, often defined by traditional gender roles and beauty standards, and faced barriers to career advancement and personal freedom Times were different in the 50s for movie stars.

…

Monique was offered an exclusive interview with Evelyn Hugo. She’s a big name in the movie business whereas Monique is the newbie at Vivant. Yet, Evelyn requested her specifically.

…

Evelyn Hugo is well known for her beauty. She used her assets to get movie roles. She’s a sexual and desirable woman. What really puts her on everyone’s radar is the seven husbands she’s been married to.

…

I went into this book thinking I was going to read about the life of Evelyn having seven different husbands and while that is the idea it’s more about her choices as an actress. There were two things driving Evelyn forward: the need to get out of Hell’s Kitchen and to follow her mother’s dreams of becoming an actress. The husbands were stepping stones in moving forward. Every choice was made to better her career. I wish I knew before that Evelyn was an actress because this isn’t the type of reading material I would have chosen for myself. I’m not the type of person who is remotely interested in what happens on the movie set or off-set. I was here to explore the seven husbands which in my mind I conjured Evelyn married to them all at once not separately. My mind went in a more scandalous direction than Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote it.

…

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. I came for the inside information about being married to seven men and instead I got stories about her life as an actress being married to men of power who would further her career. Not the dishy little story I was hoping for. As the story unfolds I find I could care less what type of life Evelyn Hugo lived.

“I spent half my time loving her and the other half hiding how much I loved her.”

This is one of the best books I’ve ever had the privilege to read. It is probably in the top five for best books I’ve ever read in my entire life. I have been looking for a book like this my entire life, and no combination of words I’m about to type, and you’re about to read, is going to do this masterpiece justice. But I will say that Gabby, Joce, Amelie, and Elyse were all right, and I’m so happy I listened to them, because this book is worth every single ounce of hype.

And when I say that this book is lifechanging, I truly mean it. This book is sold as a historical romance, where you learn about a fictional, famous, old Hollywood actress and all her marriages. What you get is a book that stars a bisexual, Cuban woman who was never allowed to talk about the love of her life; her wife. And when I say I cried during this book, I truly mean that I probably need to buy a new copy because I was the biggest mess you’ve ever seen.

“And it will be the tragedy of my life that I cannot love you enough to make you mine. That you cannot be loved enough to be anyone’s.”

On top of this being a powerful book about race, sexuality, misogyny, and having to conform to societies norms, the true meaning I took from this book is that life is short, so damn short, and we shouldn’t spend it pretending to be something we aren’t. And we shouldn’t spend it doing anything less than loving the people who are worthy and deserving of our love.

“I didn’t need boys in order to feel good. And that realization gave me great power.”

We follow Evelyn from the very start; losing her mother very young, her body developing very quickly, noticing others noticing her developing body, marrying a man so she can leave the dead-end city she grew up in, so she can become something more. Evelyn is unapologetic with her actions, and it is one of the most empowering things I’ve ever read. She plays so many more parts than the roles she is cast in. And Evelyn learns really quickly how to play each and every man she is forced to interact with, and she quickly learns what she can gain from each and every one of them, too.

This story is told from two different timelines and two different points of view. One from Monique Grant, who is a biracial (white and African-American) woman who is going through a fresh divorce and trying to make something of herself in the journalism field. And her life changes the day her editor tells her how Evelyn Hugo is demanding her, and only her, to write something for her.

“Heartbreak is loss. Divorce is a piece of paper.”

The other timeline(s) are all the different times in Evelyn’s life, and the different seven husbands that she had, while she is recounting the events that lead her to be telling Monique this story. Evelyn has lived a very full life, and is in her late seventies now, and is finally ready to talk about her life. But the entire book we are guessing why she has chosen only Monique for this job.

“Make them pay you what they would pay a white man.”

If you guys have been following my reviews, you’ll probably know that I talk about found family and how important it is to me a lot, but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the epitome of how beautiful a found family can be. Evelyn and Harry’s friendship in this was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read in my entire reading life.

“When you write the ending, Monique, make sure the reader understands that all I was ever really looking for was family. Make sure it’s clear that I found it. Make sure they know that I am heartbroken without it.”

And the romance? The true romance in this book is the most romantic thing I have ever read in my entire life. And you guys know I’ve read a ton of romances, but they are all lesser to this. Every single one of them can’t compare with the romance in this book. I feel like every time I’ve used the word “perfect” to describe something that wasn’t the romance in this book, then I used the word wrong.

“Please never forget that the sun rises and sets with your smile. At least to me it does. You’re the only thing on this planet worth worshipping.”

How many Evelyn and Celias are there in the world? How many are still playing the role that Evelyn was forced to play? I cry for every single person who must hide who they are, and who they want to love. And this book talks about many big things in LGBTQIAP+ history; from the Stonewall riots to the disgusting Reagan administration, but life still isn’t anywhere close to equal in 2018. The prejudices, the discrimination, the virus/syndrome blaming, the looks I’ve experienced holding a girl’s hand while walking into a restaurant? Those are still in 2018, in the United States, but people act like none of those things exists because marriage is legalized, begrudgingly. I’m not writing this review to get on my soapbox, but I promise, we have a lot more work to do. And this book, this book lit a fire under me.

I personally identify as pansexual, but I felt like the bisexual rep in this was a tier above anything my eyes have ever seen. Seeing Evelyn love all the parts of her, and all the different parts of her love, was something so awe-inspiring. I am still so overwhelmed with feelings, but if you identify as bi or pan, this is a love letter to you, I promise.

“I was a lesbian when she loved me and a straight woman when she hated me.”

This book also focuses a huge importance on motherhood throughout the entirety of this book, and then I read the acknowledgement and started weeping all over again. Taylor Jenkins Reid was able to evoke the strongest emotions from me, and I just pray that things will be different for the generation of kids being raised right now.

This was the first thing I’ve read by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I will buy every single new thing she produces. The writing was so lyrical and addicting. I mean, I have a quote between almost every paragraph. This whole book deserves to be highlighted. The characters, well, my mind has now forever imagined that these are real people now, so there is that. The topics, themes, and discussions are beyond important. This book just makes me feel so passionately. This book is one of the most empowering pieces of literature I’ve ever consumed. And I am not the same person I was before this book.

“I told her every single day that her life had been the world’s greatest gift to me, that I believed I was put on earth not to make movies or wear emerald-green gowns and wave at crowds but to be her mother.”

If you guys ever take a recommendation from me; please have it be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Please, I’m actually begging you. I promise, this book is lifechanging, and I equally promise you that this book changed mine. There is magic between these four-hundred-pages. Pure magic. This story is addicting, enthralling, and so important. And if you’re an Evelyn, in 2018, I see you, but I hope it doesn’t take you as long as it took her to be happy. This will forever be one of the best books of my life, and I’ll cherish it forever.

“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.”

Trigger/Content Warnings: death of a loved one, death of a child, talk of suicide, unhealthy dieting, underage sex with an adult, abortion, talk of miscarriage, a lot of physical abuse, cheating, dunk driving, and homophobic slurs.