The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Review

I read so many great reviews and heard from friends who read this novel about how amazing it is. While I love historical fiction, after reading the summary of this story, I thought it was going to be a weird romance novel about a movie star. This wonderful novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid was the opposite. When I started reading, the writing instantly captivated me and the characters were fascinating, it was definitely a page turner.

The premise is, an old movie star, Evelyn Hugo had seven husbands (as the title states). Each one did not work out for a different reason. Some were publicity stunts, others more real. None of them are alive anymore and so Evelyn at age 79 reaches out to journalist Monique Grand for a final interview to relay her true story in a biography to be published after she dies. Why did so many of her marriages come to an end, a quick end at that? And the most pressing question, who was the love of Evelyn Hugo’s life? 

Evelyn’s husbands in order were Ernie Diaz, Don Alder, Mick Riva, Rex North, Harry Cameron, Max Gerard, and lastly Robert Jamison. However, there were other people who she had affairs with such as another movie star, Celia St. James. “Don't ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box. Don't do that,” (Jenkins Reid 124). Evelyn Hugo is telling her whole life story, coming out as bisexual, talking about her Cuban heritage that she covered by blond hair dye, and debunking all of this misinformation about her and each of her husbands. Evelyn wants this book to be the most real, unscripted version of herself after living in the public eye. She worked hard to get to where she is, but in the process had to hide so much “When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things.” (Jenkins Reid 45).

My favorite part of the novel was actually the parallel between the journalist, Monique and Evelyn. At the beginning of the book Monique gets a divorce from her husband David, after doing extensive interviews and learning Evelyn’s advice, she also learns things about herself. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about the format of Monique asking interview questions, but later I start to appreciate her character and all of the interesting side aspects she introduces. I also particularly love the writing style. The author broke the novel up into seven sections, one for each husband. Within each section it shifts between old Evelyn talking with Monique,scenes from Evelyn’s life, and Moniques life. Throughout, there were also snippets of news articles about Evelyn showing the media’s perception of her.

Some of Evelyn’s decisions put me on an emotional rollercoaster per say. She is manipulative, cold- hearted, and selfish, but then the very next second she is empathetic and somehow throughout the whole book, I was rooting for her. Evelyn has such ambition and drive for what she wants, but sometimes it comes at the cost of others. However, Evelyn is a flawlessly written character, while she has many flaws, the writing of her does not. Overall, I highly recommend this beautifully written novel.

-Ana