Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Unexpected, heartfelt, not gonna lie, gave me some tears.

Main Characters: 4/5
I'm of two minds here because of the framing. Quite honestly, Monique didn't do a lot for me and mostly that's because the meat of the novel was about Evelyn. Evelyn's character, therefore, we fully crafted, complicated, and both likeable and unlikeable at the same time. Monique was truly neither here nor there.

Secondary Characters: 4/5
Truly well done. Although Evelyn is the central figure throughout the novel, pieces of her story are framed through her husbands, which means that even the short-lived marriages get covered well. We cover the frame of Evelyn's entire life, so not everyone gets the most depth, but you can tell that Taylor Jenkins Reid still put a lot of thought into characterizing each.

Plot: 5/5
Really fascinating. I was hoping that this wouldn't read like a gossip rag. It actually did, a little, but I loved that aspect about it because you saw what the tabloids saw and then understood what actually happened. The fame and stardom was an aspect of this novel, but not really the substance, and I loved seeing that evolve throughout the plot. That's all I can say until the hit the spoilers below!

Writing Style: 4/5
Really well done. The story began quickly and kept up an upbeat pace throughout, interspersed with fun clipping from newspapers and magazines. The dialogue seemed realistic but there was also great introspection placed throughout.

Ending: 5/5
This could have easily been truly gimmicky, but once again, Taylor Jenkins Reid pulled through. We get closure (although not a complete wrap-up) for both characters which aligns with the rest of the novel.

Total: 22/25 = 5 stars

(view spoiler)[ Summary:
The novel is framed through the character of writer Monique Grant, a biracial woman on the cusp of a divorce who is offered the chance of a lifetime to write the memoir of Hollywood darling Evelyn Hugo. We get a couple of chapters through Monique's POV after the story starts, but most of it comes from Evelyn.

Evelyn Hugo was born Evelyn Herrera, a poor Cuban girl growing up in Hell's Kitchen. From a young age, she knows she wants to escape so she marries her first husband in order to make it to the west coast. She networks and schmoozes until she makes her way into some movies. As she begins working her way up, her producers push her to begin dating stars, which is how she ends up with Don Adler. The two have a difficult marriage, as Don turns out to be abusive. As a rising star, Evelyn is busy trying to prove her worth, which isn't easy when newcomers like Celia St. James are coming up right behind her.

Evelyn and Celia eventually become friends and Evelyn is slowly entranced by Celia. At one momentous party, Evelyn discovers that Don is cheating on her, but also discovers her attraction to Celia. The two leave the party together and Evelyn divorces Don. Evelyn and Celia begin a relationship, but in 1959, this is highly frowned upon. To cover up, Evelyn decides that she needs another relationship with a man, so she cons rock star Mick Riva into drunkenly marrying her in Vegas. The two get a divorce the next morning, thereby ending any rumors about Evelyn and Celia. However, Celia is heartbroken at the lengths Evelyn went to to lie to the world.

Now fully aware of the lengths she'll go to in order to keep power, Evelyn makes a deal with Anna Karenina co-star Rex North to keep the buzz going on their latest movie as well as keep the press off of Evelyn's private life. The marriage works perfectly until Rex falls in love with another woman, so the two devise a perfect plan to fool the media- pretend to cheat on each other. Evelyn pretends to cheat with her producer and best friend, Harry Cameron, which works well because he is gay. This ultimately ends up being the happiest of Evelyn's marriages- Harry is in love with Celia's husband, John, so the four end up "being each other's beards". Harry and Evelyn eventually decide to have a child, their daughter Connor. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill again for Evelyn and Celia when Evelyn shoot a movie with her ex, Don, and shoots a scandalous and earth-shaking sex scene that seems too real, especially for Celia, who leaves. Harry is not unaffected either, when his love, John, dies.

Thinking she's destined not to love again, Evelyn is surprised when director Max Girard shows an interest in her and she is interested back. Alas, after she marries him, she discovers that he's really only in it for her fame and power. Around this time, Harry's drinking gets the better of him. When driving drunk with the new man he's been seeing, he crashes his car and both die. Evelyn is heartbroken. She reconnects with Celia, who devises a plan to escape to Spain, with Evelyn marrying her brother, Robert. Evelyn spends 10 glorious years with Celia before she dies.

Evelyn stops here in the story to reveal what she has refused to tell Monique thus far: that it was Monique's father who was in the car with Harry, and that Evelyn has breast cancer and will purposefully overdose that night.

The novel ends with Monique coming to terms with her own divorce, with her father's identity, and with who Evelyn was as a person. The final chapter is her article in the magazine about the upcoming memoir, containing a teaser about who Evelyn was.
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