The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Book Review
**This post contains spoilers.**
Screen siren and blonde bombshell, Evelyn Hugo, rose to fame and fortune from humble beginnings. Now ready to tell her life story, Evelyn reaches out to Vivant Magazine and requests the help of a certain writer, Monique Grant. Monique soon finds out that Evelyn is not only interested in making sure her famous is life is recounted exactly to her standards, but that Evelyn holds a dark secret about her connection to Monique.
A Review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid | Pages: 391 | Available here
While the book may be titled The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, the book centers less around the husbands and instead, focuses on the actions of Evelyn. At first glance, the book appears to be a story of 1950’s Hollywood glamour—the drama, the behind-the-scenes intrigue—of a famous actress. But the themes of the book quickly turn to much deeper, more socio-political, issues. Here is a woman, now in her late 70s, ready to look back at her life, admit to her successes and failures, without the mask of makeup or gossip columns. A woman, who, by public perception, was to be both envied and desired. But, as her story unfolds, we learn that there is much more to Evelyn than meets the eye.
““Make them pay you what they would pay a white man.””
The Weight of Public Perception & The Burden of Being Female
One of the main themes of the book centers around the oppressive weight of public perception and what it means to be a woman in society. Born of Cuban heritage, Evelyn Herrera changed her name to become Evelyn Hugo in order to be more marketable. She dyed her hair and denounced her heritage to fit the current Hollywood standards. She became an international sex symbol.
But the reader knows that the true Evelyn is more complex than that. Here is a woman who knows her worth. While the media objectifies her, she uses it to her advantage to climb the social ladder, land movie roles, and get what she wants.
When talking with Monique, Evelyn is strong and unapologetic. She doesn’t regret the things that she has done—in fact, she is adamant that these be included in her biography—and she’s not ashamed of the people that she hurt or used in the process. For Evelyn, these actions were simply a means to an end—becoming successful and famous at all costs.
But even as empowered as Evelyn was, this book highlights the role of women in society. The gossip column snippets that start the beginning of each chapter highlight how the media viewed Evelyn. Why have the pair not had children yet? Surely, it must be Evelyn Hugo holding up matters! Should she get a divorce? It must be her fault, even when she was a willing party. Why is it that women are blamed for the failure of a marriage even when both parties sign the certificate?
““You wonder what it must be like to be a man, to be so confident that the final say is yours.””
Even her movie, Boute-en-Train, was cemented in the belief that Evelyn could only be successful as a sex symbol. Society wanted to view her for what they saw her as, not as she was. Her relationships with men, specifically the marriage to Max, ended when they saw that Evelyn was human. What men like Max, and ultimately society, wanted to see was a sexual object that they could possess. When Evelyn wanted to rise above her public persona—whether in her marriages or in an acting role—she was often told to be seen and not heard, dismissed or set aside. The thrill was gone; the illusion broken.
Evelyn wanted to smash the patriarchy (Taylor Jenkins Reid briefly acknowledges this in her dedication). Her biography was an attempt at just this — pointing out the inequalities of men in Hollywood, bringing to account the men who remained unscathed for their unscrupulous behavior. If Evelyn wanted to be truly seen, she wanted even more for these men, who were rewarded for being cruel and unkind, to be remembered for who they were.
““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.””
The Depth of Love
One of the deepest themes of the book centers around the ideals of love and partnership. While it may not seem by the book’s title that Evelyn valued true love, this book was a lesson in the various ways that people can show up in your life.
Over the course of decades, Evelyn had many types of relationships. Some were transactional, some with obligatory, and some were sensationalized. But, each one of these relationships was pivotal to Evelyn’s growth and development as a character. Ernie showed Evelyn the depth of her desire to make a career for herself. Don showed her the world was unfair and dominated by powerful, rich men and that she had to be more cunning to rise above.
But underneath the drama and the gossip, there were the real relationships. Of course, Evelyn’s relationship with Cecilia St. James was passionate and romantic. But, here, too, is a relationship that is about sacrifice as much as it is about true love. In recounting her story to Monique, Evelyn never once questions her pursuit of becoming successful, except for Cecilia. For her, she would give it all away. In the era of this novel, this would certainly have meant losing her career and being publicly slandered. But love is love, no matter what.
Her relationship with Harry was a deep look at not just love, but mutual respect and companionship. Around Harry, she was able to finally show who she really was—a bisexual Cuban woman. Around Harry, she didn’t have to hide; she didn’t have to pretend. She was able to be free and true, and for Evelyn, in a world that demanded so much from her, this was the most liberating relationship.
While most love is portrayed as physical and romantic love, the relationship between Harry and Evelyn highlighted an important type of love—true partnership. It’s often overlooked in favor of the more flashy emotional connection, but this love runs deep. The parallels can be seen in the end of the book when Monique is talking with her mother about her relationship with her father. She describes him as “her best friend.” While the physical love may fade, this is the true bond of love that lingers in your soul.
When Harry suggests that Evelyn move on to marry Max, his depth of love for her shines through when he’s willing to sacrifice the home that they have built together. Evelyn repays Harry in kind by hiding the true cause of his death and preventing his name from being slandered in the papers.
So here is the true twist in the book and the reader learns of Monique’s connection to Evelyn. At the time of his death, Harry was deeply in love with James Grant, Monique’s father. Evelyn explains that when she arrived at the scene of the car crash to find James dead and Harry badly injured, she moved the body of Monique’s late father into the driver’s seat—forever convincing the family that he died as a result of drunk driving. But when Evelyn hands Monique the letter that James had written to Harry, we see the deepest kind of love—the love a father has for his daughter and family. For James, this true love for his family was worth sacrificing the happiness he felt with Harry and worth defending at all costs.
The Struggles of the lGBTQ Community
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo also highlights the important issue of gay rights and those in the LGBTQ community. As a bisexual woman in Hollywood, Evelyn felt that she could not expose who she truly was (and her love for Cecilia) without risking everything that she had worked so hard to gain. Both Evelyn and Harry went to great lengths to hide who they truly were and it would stand to reason that there were many more Hollywood actors and actresses during the same period hiding for fear of public scrutiny. Of all of the relationships in the book, the extra special bond shared between Harry, Evelyn, Cecilia, and John, speaks volumes to the purity of love.
While the public perception of those in the LGBTQ community has shifted since the 50’s and 60’s, there is still plenty of work to be done today. As we evolve as a society, we have become more accepting of our individual differences, but it would be naive to think that there are not still those that we feel they cannot expose their true identities.
Conclusion
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a detailed look into not just the lives of the rich and famous, but of the underbelly of society as a whole. It brings important themes to light with complex, well-written characters who the reader grows with throughout the book. Evelyn is simultaneously the heroine and the villain—the character you want to root for and the character you want to hate. But ultimately, Taylor Jenkins Reid weaves an intoxicating tale of the profoundly human Hugo that you can’t put down. This book is a can’t miss.
