The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, follows Monique Grant, an exhausted and underused writer going through a tumultuous time in her life due to a failed marriage, tasked by Evelyn Hugo, a famous starlet from the 60s and 70s, to write her biography as she is ready to express the truth of her seven marriages. Readers are able to look through the perspective of a Hollywood superstar and the perils of popularity. This 2018 novel is on Barnes & Noble’s most popular TikTok books list. Though it reached its peak popularity in 2020, this book is better read late than never.
This historical fiction novel features themes of gender norms, love, morals, money, and fame. They are all intertwined in Evelyn’s life, making the story so interesting and the novel so hard to put down. It reminded me of The Great Gatsby if F. Scott Fitzgerald explored Daisy Buchanan’s character more than just imposing blame on her for the actions that Jay Gatsby did. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Evelyn Hugo is a Cuban bisexual woman who does what she has to do for her survival. She is courageous and beautiful but most importantly, she is human. She repeats throughout the novel that she doesn’t want to be written as a perfect person and instead, makes it clear that she would make those mistakes again if she had to. I love the humanity behind her - an ode to the way Reid’s exceptional job at characterization. Her ability to describe these bizarre instances set in Los Angeles/New York decades ago also enables us to relate real-life events, especially when talking about the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. Yes, the world has become more accepting but there are still many people who are not, creating a dangerous, and possibly hostile, environment.
Evelyn is a complex character who uses the currency of beauty and femininity as a tool to first, escape Hell’s Kitchen and her father, to later further her career, and save her relationship with Celia St. James, the love of her life. Femininity being reclaimed in this story is a large part of the character development of Evelyn. She is intelligent and aware of what her early physical development meant, for her and others (especially men). Till her time of death, her beauty is what becomes the main topic of discussion. Similarly, she had to undergo major cultural changes like changing her accent and dying her hair blond to start her journey as an actress in Hollywood. The conflict she undergoes was interesting and relatable.
Glitz and glamour, as you learn as you grow older, is very much a façade. You see the injustices - bigotry, racial discrimination, etc - and it is difficult to idolize that life the more aware you are of it. Bringing back the example of The Great Gatsby, it is a novel famous for its portrayal of money and the American Dream. Working hard and earning money does not equal happiness, which in Gatsby’s case was the love of Daisy that he had lost. However, what we aren’t exposed to is the perspective of Daisy who from the time written, the 1920s, has had to make the difficult choice of staying with her old-money husband Tom Buchanan to have a life away from the judgment of society.
Likewise, Seven Husbands shows how far someone is willing to go before they lose the fame that they had worked so hard for. Just like Daisy, Evelyn loses Celia multiple times due to her fear of coming out and her love for the spotlight. Making the choice, in theory, is easy but when reality comes into play, it can tarnish how easy it is, especially for a woman.
Fame and money, though providing many luxuries, will never equate to love and it is a lesson learned by Evelyn after it all. The relationships Evelyn has – with Celia, with Harry Cameron (her best friend and “beard”), with Connor (her daughter with Harry) – are extremely beautiful. One of the more important messages of this novel is the meaning of love, more specifically, that love takes place in many forms. Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love elaborates that there are seven types of love. In each interpersonal relationship, the type of love is determined by three characteristics: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Thus, explains its triangular shape, though it is more of a metaphor in this case. The types of love are friendship, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love. Evelyn even states, “Heartbreak is a loss. Divorce is a piece of paper.” The institution of marriage, though symbolizing the union of two people, is not entirely necessary and does not define what real love is.
Overall, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a book that I will never stop thinking about. It changed my perspective on multiple aspects of life. I love it wholeheartedly, and if you haven’t yet had the chance to read it, I hope you do soon.