[Book Review] The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds through the decades—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

5 STARS 

TW: domestic abuse, alcoholism, homophobia, biphobia, racism, audltery, death/grief. 


Wow. I went into this book completely blind. I picked it up because of all the rave reviews online and I realized I needed to read it as soon as possible so I could join the discussion. It being adult fiction I wasn't sure how much I'd like it or even what to expect but I was blown away. 

The characters were amazing overall. They felt real, like I was reading the biography of an actual woman named Evelyn Hugo because of the way they are written. Evelyn, Cecilia, and Harry were all so great. I didn't really care too much about our main character, Monique's,  love life but I understand why it was needed, even if it was just a short blip compared to the rest of the story. I honestly
hadn't realized how much I fell in love with Evelyn and Harry until the last act of the book when everything got really intense. It kind of snuck up on me and then all of a sudden I was sobbing. Evelyn and Harry were my favorite two characters. Evelyn is one of the strongest literary characters I've had the honor of reading and I couldn't help but fall in love with her. Despite everything she's been been through she pushes through and figures out what to do. She's incredibly adaptable and self efficient because she was basically raising herself since her mother's passing. Like most of the characters in this book, there are moments where you are so frustrated with Evelyn. The characters made stupid decisions at times, and they were incredibly flawed, but that was what it made reading about them so much better. 

The plot was so interesting because I have no doubts that these kinds of things happened in Hollywood (and probably still do). Evelyn is a stubborn, ambitious, no-nonsense woman in a man's world. She pushes through and gets what she wants. The way her Cuban heritage is buried deep by the filmmakers of Hollywood was very depressing but something I have no doubt happened to women of color actresses (and maybe even actors?) in the 50's and earlier. They make her change her image to fit a mold they wanted to sell to the public and it stripped that part of her identity. I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for her, even if at the time she'd do whatever to become successful. 

The romance is absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful. Typically the romance is my least favorite part of any story but this romance is written so well that it leaves you in pieces. Both Evelyn and Cecelia make mistakes in their marriage, sometimes communication isn't their specialty, and they have bumps in the road but the way their relationship starts out and where it is by the end of the story had me bawling my eyes out. By the time I was at the end of the story there was a moment where it all hit me. All the hardships Evelyn had to go through. I had to stop reading because it made me really admire how resilient she was all throughout her life.


The writing is gorgeous. Beautiful setting and imagery. I had no problem imagining the time periods the story takes place in. The atmosphere really helped set the scenes and it felt almost like I was watching a black and white movie. What else was a really great touch were the newspaper clippings we get so the reader can see what the public were thinking while we were up close to the celebrities like Evelyn and Cecelia.


Overall I highly recommend this book. It is so easy to get sucked into the story. Once I got into the story I could not put it down at all. I needed to know what was going to happen in Evelyn's life, but I also was really intrigued why she was so adamant that Monique would hate her by the end of the story. When that part of the story is revealed I audibly said "No way" and I felt like a ton of bricks hit me. I was completely caught by surprise and I think it just made the story all the more heartbreaking. 


I cannot recommend this enough, please pick it up. 

Thanks for reading!