He promises to love you forever. You promise to obey.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Romance (LGBT+)
About: Evelyn Hugo is an icon. A timeless beauty from Hollywood's Golden Ages. The world knows her for her movies, her tits and her seven husbands (in varying order of importance, depending on the fan). Now in her seventies, with no family left, she wants to write her memoirs and so plucks Monique Grant from journalistic obscurity to do it. But just what connection does someone as famous as Evelyn have with Monique? And which of Evelyn's many husbands was the great love of her life?
The Good
It's full of glamour and mystique. Evelyn is unquestionably the star of the book (even that it's in Monique's perspective). She has that same unique magnetism that someone like Marilyn Monroe had. I found myself wanting to know all the ins and outs of her many failed marriages, how she rose, fell and rose again in stardom, and just what terrible thing she thinks she's done that Monique will hate her for. The premise intrigued me instantly and held me all the way through the book. I especially loved the early references to her famous movie scenes and her most memorable photographs, to then later see the truth behind those moments. It made me want to go watch the films and google the images, even that they of course don't exist.
The Bad
While I didn't expect each of her marriages to be based on love, I was hoping for more exploration of those relationships than what we get. More than a few are 'filler husbands' with little to no influence over her, and that's okay for one or two, but I think, in general, relationships that lead to marriage should have some kind of impact on you as a person. Apart from her second husband, whether she's married or not doesn't seem to be important. It's a careless portrayal of marriage, basically, which maybe was the author's point but I would have preferred more substance behind the marriages, even if they weren't based on love.
The Somewhat Iffy
Evelyn goes through two break-ups with the great love of her life - and neither splits make sense. At least from what's communicated, there doesn't seem to be enough justification for splitting up other than to give the novel conflict. Also there's a moment when an abuser is described as being harmless because he's experiencing a lot of failures and rejections - arguably that's the point in which they should be the most dangerous and this portrayal I think brushes the issue off a bit too casually.
And, without giving spoilers, I didn't understand why a particular letter was with the person who wrote it since it had obviously been read by the person it was intended for - to me it seemed like either the letter should have been posted (in which case, the person wouldn't have been there), or the message told in person (in which case, the letter wouldn't have existed).
Overall
I fell very easily in love with Evelyn Hugo. So much so, that I honestly didn't feel like she did much wrong in life. I was on her side for each break-up and even the big reveal at the end I couldn't hate her for it. Her tragedies were heart-breaking to read, and her life was certainly interesting enough to fill a novel. And although the book wasn't as in depth as I would have liked, it is compelling and that's purely because of Evelyn.
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