Stuff I've Read: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A retired Hollywood icon selects a seemingly random, unknown journalist to give one last interview.  Unbeknownst to the journalist, however, this final interview gives a direct look behind the curtain for some of the movie industry’s darkest and most personal secrets.  All’s fair in love and acting in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2017 novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo revolves around the life and loves of the titular heroine as she forges her own path in a ruthless, cutthroat town.  She marries young to escape a terrible home life in New York and follows him to California to chase stardom.  She makes fast friends with a young, un-and-coming producer and promptly divorces her first husband.  While in an abusive marriage with husband number two—a big-name costar she met on set—Evelyn meets and falls for her biggest rival in town, Celia St. James, and the two begin a forbidden relationship spanning decades, all while having performative marriages to men for the sake of the public and their careers.  Evelyn recounts this decades later exclusively to Monique Grant, a little-known journalist whose article on assisted suicide puts her in Evelyn’s radar.  Evelyn delivers this story to Monique on the condition that Monique uses this interview to write her memoir.  And by the end of Evelyn Hugo’s life story, Monique will understand the impact Evelyn, her husbands, and the secrets she’s hidden over the years have had on Monique’s own life.

Since the pandemic, I’ve become an enormous fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid.  Her last several books have been stellar, engaging reads, and when I found out that there were Easter eggs from this book hidden in Daisy Jones & The Six and Malibu Rising, I felt compelled to read this to figure them out.  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo did not disappoint.  Evelyn’s struggle to maintain authenticity—specifically authenticity in who she was and who she loved—in a world built exclusively on perception, deception, and artifice is incredibly relevant in the modern day.  Evelyn is a compelling protagonist as she guides us through her life and the people she’s loved (and lost) over its course.  It’s worth noting that she found something lo love about everyone she married (even that Damn Don Adler, her abusive second husband), even as she discovered truths about herself.  Her story was fascinating, and I found myself cheering at her triumphs, and genuinely sad at her losses.

The only knock I have on The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is its late-game plot twist.  The mystery surrounding why Evelyn chose Monique to write this game-changer of a memoir is teased and hinted at, but I don’t love its resolution.  It might make a ton of sense for the motivations of both of these women, but it seems to come out of nowhere in the narrative.  It’s not enough to take you out of the story, just a thing that seems to have been done with the movie in mind.  The story is otherwise amazing, humming on all cylinders.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a wonderful read by an amazing author.  Totally worth the time.

Pros:  Solid read that lifts the veil on “old Hollywood”; compelling narrative and a magnetic main character.

Cons:  Final plot twist comes seemingly out of nowhere.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.