The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by: Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a confounding book, at least in terms of how it works.  Told in seven sections, it is its ending which is what makes the novel work.  Taylor Jenkins Reid spends over 350 pages telling the story of Evelyn Hugo’s life divided between her seven husbands, in an interview format with Monique Grant.  This is perhaps all I can reasonably say about the novel without really delving into spoilers of the novel.  It’s especially odd since it’s the ending of the novel that elevates Reid’s work into something great, the rope that really binds everything together.  Instead of a typical review, I have elected to discuss the major ideas and themes of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, starting with one of its final twists.  Evelyn Hugo is going to end her life.  Monique Grant has been chosen as biographer because of a piece on the right to death, one final secret from Evelyn being almost secondary to this fact.  It is this ending which somehow pulls everything together, Reid’s point being about being in control of one’s life in a system that stacks the deck against you.  This is the central thesis of the novel, told through the flawed lens of Evelyn Hugo, a woman with seven husbands, sex appeal, and glamor.  Evelyn as a character is intriguing, witty, and genuinely fun to follow as she grows from her naïve childhood as a Cuban immigrant to a powerful Hollywood star to a mother who is just trying to find some peace.

 

Taylor Jenkins Reid in characterizing Evelyn attempts to pull a twist about 100 pages in, something that is now discussed whenever this novel is brought up, Evelyn’s bisexuality.  Now since this was not a book I intended to read because of reviews, instead the blind recommendation of a friend, I didn’t know this as a twist and the prose in the sequence feels like it’s meant to be a twist.  It doesn’t work since it’s clear from their first interactions, Evelyn Hugo’s true soulmate (though not love) is Celia St. James.  Evelyn Hugo is bisexual and perhaps the twist is an attempt by Reid to examine biphobia, Monique immediately assuming Hugo is a lesbian, but it isn’t really examined outside of the fact that exists.  At least not in the larger context of the modern day, much of the novel is an examination of the discrimination of LGBT people faced in Hollywood specifically through the fictional lens of the story.  While by no means comprehensive, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo could easily be seen as a way to pique the reader’s interest in the history of Hollywood in general though with someone like me who’s studied the history of film, though not extensively, Reid’s inspirations become clear.  Interestingly, while Evelyn Hugo being a lighter skinned person of color is brought up, racism and its interception with homophobia aren’t really examined throughout the novel.

 

The way Reid splits the seven husbands up is also interesting, each acquiring an adjective (or in the case of Harry Cameron three) descriptor to summarize Hugo’s memory of each of them.  Evelyn Hugo as a woman was highly flawed, her career ambitions admirable and personality causes the reader to gravitate towards her, but she also would be cold and calculating.  Her influence on those around her is fascinating, Reid almost invoking characters like Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada at points, though more outwardly human.  Of her husbands, there are only really two whom she actively hurts perhaps unfairly, both to advance her career.  Her first, Poor Ernie Diaz, whom she divorces to enter the dating scene of Hollywood stars (think studio approved paparazzi but much worse) and Gullible Mick Riva, whom she seduces and elopes with in a devious plan to keep herself and Celia closeted.  Reid examines the fact that screwing over Diaz genuinely hurt since she did care for him, even if she did not love him.  Love is complicated, her second husband proved that, though the care for Diaz was much less than Harry Cameron, their marriage being a pair of beards perceived as swingers by the general public.

 

Overall, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was a surprise.  The last twenty pages or so are what really punch you in the face and then the gut, elevating what had been a fairly enjoyable novel into something genuinely fascinating.  It’s a book I am likely to return to in the future with fresh eyes to at least see if the context of the conclusion changes anything.  9/10.