The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Libby ebook 

Published: 2017

Genre: realistic fiction

 

This book was highly recommended to me by two very different people. It had a long waiting list and I only read 30% of it before I had to return it and wait again. I finished it over a week ago and had to return it, so I just jotted the quotations from the book here and am now writing about them (4.11.24). 

 

It was a very well-written book that I did not like very much. Louie asked me how that is possible and what makes me say it was "well-written." The best comparison I could make is The Lord of the Flies. It's powerfully written and makes you think, but I don't enjoy it. This book is less disturbing, but I just didn't love it.

 

Evelyn Hugo is a famous, gorgeous movie star. Monique is a young woman trying to make her way as a writer. On staff at a magazine called Vivant, Monique is flattered and confused when Evelyn specifically requests her for an exclusive interview. Once the two women meet, Evelyn shares that she wants a full biography of her life published after her death and she wants Monique to write it. 

Chapter 3: "'So do yourself a favor and learn how to grab life by the balls, dear. Don't be so tied up trying to do the right thing when the smart thing is so painfully clear.'"

 

This is basically Evelyn's attitude toward life. This is part of why I didn't enjoy the book. It is important to "grab life," but I still believe doing the right thing is far better in the long run.

Chapter 6: "'So when he dumped me - because he was bored with me, because he'd found someone else more exciting - I felt both a deep relief and a very real sense of failure.'"

This was actually pretty heart-breaking. Young Evelyn grew up in a place referred to as Hell's Kitchen. Because she developed a chest early, she found that boys would give her special treatment if she let them look at and fondle her breasts. The candy store clerk let her take candy in payment for time with her bosom. How incredibly sad (but absolutely believable).

Chapter 12: "But the truth is, praise is just like an addiction. The more you get it, the more of it you need just to stay even."

 

Interesting notion . . .  for someone who becomes a star, the access to money, drugs, etc. is obvious. I never really thought about an addiction to adulation.

Chapter 14: "He said, 'You have to do that, too, Monique. When you're older. You have to find a job that makes your heart feel big instead of one that makes it feel small.'"

Monique's dad gave her this sage advice when she was only six years old! It's especially meaningful once we know more about Monique's dad! He died when she was eight, but she learns more about him toward the end of this story.

Chapter 15: "'It's on the house,' he said, which I thought was the stupidest thing, because if there is anyone that should be getting free food, it isn't rich people."

 

Yes! I agree with Evelyn on this one. Comping rich people is just silly. 

Chapter 17: "People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth."

 

This also has truth in it. Intimacy is usually thought of in such a narrow way. (And people have sex withOUT intimacy too often.

Chapter 32: "You should know this about the rich: they always want to get richer."

 

In this era of billionaires, I'm sickened that any human should hoard so much wealth and yet be greedy for more. It makes me think of Tolkien's Smaug laying on his pile of treasure.

Chapter 39: "My career was going to take a hit. There was no avoiding it. I'd go from being a woman to being a mother - and somehow those things appeared mutually exclusive in Hollywood. My body would change. I'd have months where I couldn't work."

 

I think this is somewhat true for all women who become mothers. Life changes. Drastically. But for someone whose physical appearance is part of their identity and their actual career, it is so much more.  I imagine it's worse for women who are considered sex symbols.

Chapter 61: "But of course, they got it wrong. They never did care about getting it right. The media are going to tell whatever story they want to tell. They always have. They always will."

 

It makes me sad that this was true in the past and is true now. The media generally seem to be more interested in making headlines and money than in the truth. "Investigative journalism" isn't a whole lot better sometimes.

Chapter 62: "I knew what it was like to realize that the one you love would leave this earth well before you. But nothing could prepare me for the pain of watching my child suffer."

 

I'm so incredibly thankful that I have not had to bury a child! It was hard enough to lose my parents in their old age. This reminds me of the scene in The Two Towers when King Theoden says, "No parent should have to bury their child." Evelyn's daughter died of breast cancer.

Chapter 68: "Her dress is low-cut, revealing her still-ample cleavage, and it occurs to me that it is the very thing that made her that will be the thing to finally take her down."

 

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but as Evelyn is sharing her story, Monique realizes that Evelyn's breasts are a big part of her fame and now the breast cancer that took her daughter will kill her, too.

Chapter 69: "I feel no pressure to stop crying. I feel no need to explain myself. You don't have to make yourself OK for a good mother; a good mother makes herself OK for you. And my mother has always been a good mother, a great mother."

 

This scene with her mother (and Monique's choices leading up to this) made me love her more as a character.  I'm so glad she has someone she can be completely real with.

The teasers about what Evelyn was going to tell Monique and about her end of life didn't hold up for me. It was a little over-dramatic.