The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed tells the story of Evelyn Hugo, a glamorous Hollywood movie star who has hidden from public life for years. She is finally ready to tell the tale of her scandalous life, and she chooses Monique, a practically unknown writer, to do so. Monique, utterly astonished by why Evelyn would specifically request her to write her biography, tentatively accepts the job hoping it will jumpstart her career. As revealed in the title of the book, part of the intrigue of Evelyn’s life is that she has been married a total of seven times. Yet, through their interview sessions, Monique finds that the one thing everyone wants to hear about the most may be the least interesting part of Evelyn’s story.
Evelyn’s married her first husband, Ernie Diaz, at the age of fifteen, wanting to get out of Hell’s Kitchen and move Hollywood. She was able to get some smaller roles, but once she died her hair blonde and divorced Ernie Diaz to publicly date other actors, she secured her first leading role. She eventually falls madly in love with Don Adler, another big actor, and makes him her second husband. However, their marriage takes a turn for the worst when Don becomes abusive, and Evelyn, still in love with Don and feeling embarrassed, goes to great lengths to hide this from everyone in their life. When Evelyn begins working on the set of the movie Little Women, she meets fellow actor Celia St. James but is threatened by the young up-and-coming talent. Eventually though, the two become best friends and hardly leave each other’s sides. To Monique, Evelyn reveals that among her seven husbands, she had a secret affair with Celia St. James for years.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is an easy read with a big reveal guarenteed to leave the reader aghast. The book perfectly captures the awe of the old Hollywood film era and all the behind-the-scenes drama and scandal that comes with it. Who would be able to put a book like that down? While there is a lot of hype behind this book, I do think it’s pretty deserved for the most part. Personally, I did not find the big “twist” to be as crazy as others have said, and I overall found the story to be a bit simple for all of the hype it’s been given. Still, I would definitely recommend this book, as it was an enjoyable read and I’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t had a positive experience with it.
I read this book and really found the storyline to be full of twists and turns. I also read it due to the “hype” around it, and felt like it was deserved. There is definately a lot of scandal and drama which led me to read it fairly quickly.
I have heard so much about this book but never picked it up. I’m not big into Hollywood or romance but I do love stories within stories if that makes sense. The book being written about a book being written is always interesting and can show a lot of aspects of the author’s voice.