Celebrity gossip circulates social media on a daily basis whether it’s a budding romance, a break up, a wedding, or a divorce. Flash back to the mid-20th century where social media was non-existent and the tabloids and paparazzis captured all the ugliness and glamor of fame; they dove into the lives of movie stars and singers in an attempt to find every nitty gritty detail they could write into a believable story. The reality is, celebrity romance can be intriguing and can keep us on our toes, but it also can be messy and heartbreaking.
The New York Times bestselling author, Taylor Jenkins Reid, explores the complicated life of stardom in her 2017 novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The novel tells the story of an ordinary magazine writer, Monique Grant, and Hollywood icon, Evelyn Hugo. Monique miraculously gets asked by Evelyn herself to write her tell-all biography that includes her path to fame, her illustrious career, and her infamous seven marriages. However, the following questions continue to linger in Monique’s mind: Why her? Was Evelyn hiding something? Who really is Evelyn Hugo? Reid answers all these questions while keeping readers at the edge of their seats as they become absorbed into the character of Evelyn Hugo.
It’s the year 2017 when Monique is introduced to readers as a biracial journalist going through a divorce; her only career highlight prior to the magazine was a compelling article on physician-assisted suicide for a blog that marketed itself as a news site. She’s far from being considered a famous writer, so Evelyn Hugo’s insistence on having her for her tell-all interview, leaves everyone, including Monique, baffled. Under the pretense of meeting Evelyn for an interview with the magazine she works at, Monique learns that this isn’t at all what Evelyn has planned, but instead she wants a book on her life story. Evelyn spares no detail as she brings us back to the 1950s-1990s to relive all of her experiences as an actress, a wife, and a mother; she’s a captivating woman who went to great lengths to keep her image, career, and the ones she loved.
Before I picked up this book, I thought it was going to be a tropey celebrity romance story. I figured it was yet another story in which an actress has to hide her relationships from the public and run away from the cameras on secret rendezvous, but it’s not. Instead, Evelyn does the opposite as she tells Monique about the way in which she used the cameras to control her own narrative whether true or false. There’s a wonderfully written LGBTQ+ romance involved in the plot.
Evelyn makes tough decisions to protect herself and her significant other from prevalent stigmas in the 20th century. While her decisions are questionable and it’s hard for anyone to wholeheartedly agree with her actions, we can’t help but at least empathize with the woman who felt she had no choice and who did what she had to do to protect the ones she loved.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is mostly a romance novel, but it combines elements of historical fiction and mystery. Reid does an exceptional job crafting a moving love story that at times leaves us astounded in tears wanting more. I’m grateful that Reid made Evelyn an eloquent speaker, as I was enthralled by the brutal honesty and vulnerability she had with Monique. Initially, I wasn’t expecting there to be a mystery present in the plot, but I have to say it was one of my favorite aspects of the novel. I had so many “why” questions, and each and every one of them was answered. I don’t want to spoil anything, but that ending was gripping and caught me off guard. If my eyes were not terribly dry that night, I would’ve cried.
Every time I finish reading a book, I write my own little reviews on my Instagram Close Friends Story; I usually write a blurb about the novel and give it a rating out of 10, so I thought it’d be fun to write my own full review for once. I give this novel a 9/10 for its beautifully written plot and characters.
My only critique of this book is that it seemed to progress more slowly at the start, but that may be my personal preference. It took me some time to get hooked on the novel, but as I continued, I found myself unable to sleep because I couldn’t put it down.
If you decide this is your next read, you won’t be disappointed. This novel showed me how to accept life, its heartbreaks, and its harsh realities. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo reminds us that we shouldn’t be too quick to judge others and that we don’t always know what’s going on behind closed doors.