The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Book Review

Disclaimer: This book has mentions of controversial political topics, and within this review I will be expressing my personal opinions on these topics. For those who feel very strongly about their political views and take offense in others expressing a different political view, this may not be the book review you want to read.

Synopsis:

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon 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 is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

First Impressions… not good.

The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid was a roller coaster! I almost didn’t finish it shortly after I started reading it. The book mentions support for medically assisted suicide, feminism, and a few other controversial themes in a favorable light. Granted, I don’t have an issue with these things in theory, but the reality of what they have become, how they have been inverted and used to further corrupt political agendas is why mentions of these topics in a favorable light had me sitting uncomfortable. A lot of things seem okay in theory, until you’ve gone down a few rabbit holes and learn about the groups who are behind them and what their real motives are.

If I’m to be totally honest, modern day feminism isn’t at all about equality between men and women. If it was, I’d totally support it. I love women empowerment and women being able to have all the same opportunities as men. What’s not to like about that? I’m a woman, obviously I would support all of those things. What modern feminism has become, on the other hand, is a competition between men and women, and stereotyping all men to be of a certain characteristic and that just simply isn’t accurate or fair to place on every man, because men, like women, are individuals, and individuals each have their own unique characteristics. We are not all of the same mindset. Modern feminism has been used as a tool of division, pinning women against men and vice versa, creating the us verses them mentality. I don’t believe it is us verses them. I believe in the masculine and the feminine working in harmony together, and any movements that seek to divide us and promote hatred between each other using our differences, whether it be gender, race, religion, etc. are not good and are not progressing us forward. This is why I do not support modern feminism, amongst many other social justice movements, because they are all tainted with this same divisive hatred.

As for medically assisted suicide (aka MAID), I think this could be a really great thing for people who are suffering with terminal illnesses and do not want to go through a long, agonizing pain before death. But my biggest concern is for those with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc. We live in a time where we are living in a mental health crisis, where there is a clear motivation for population control, and a lot of people in powerful positions want to lower our numbers whom have openly talked about population control at conferences, in books, in interviews (Bill Gates, Sadhguru, and various other members of the World Economic Forum). I believe the people in power are using MAID as a means to push their depopulation agenda along, amongst using many other things deemed controversial that I won’t get into. I feel we should be helping those who struggle with mental illness, supporting them, and helping them cope and heal, but instead, the government is now helping them kill themselves and it just feels so morally wrong to me on so many levels. Seeing how this book, and by extension the author, really supports these topics didn’t sit right with me.

All that being said, my first impressions of the book, I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy it and I was really tempted to not bother to finish reading it. It did not leave a good taste in my mouth, but I kept reading and was pleasantly surprised.

The meat of the review (contains spoilers).

Despite my disagreements with the author’s political views and mentions, I am glad I kept reading because it had me in tears by the end of it. I ended up falling in love with the story, the characters, especially Evelyn with all the wrong she had done in order to succeed in her career. I think what I loved most about her is that she felt very human, very imperfect. I feel so many stories brush over just how flawed we are as human beings. We have been conditioned to value people for their strengths, and abandon and cancel people when we see their flaws, their errors, or simply don’t agree with them. Evelyn used people to get what she wanted, and while it is a really awful thing to do, understanding her motivations behind the things she did, I couldn’t blame her for them. She lived in an era that was very different from today (mid-late 1900s), and unfortunately if she wanted to be successful in Hollywood, she knew what she had to do to get there because that was the culture, and she was willing to make those sacrifices for herself. Getting to know Evelyn’s story and her motivations for why she did the things that she did, she just felt very real, and that’s what I loved about her. She wasn’t proud of the choices she had to make to get what she wanted, and she made mistakes that gave her some really hard consequences, but ultimately, she didn’t regret her life. I also really admired her ability to move forward with people who really hurt her in the past. She didn’t enable those people to hurt her again, but she practiced forgiveness. She let go of resentment towards those who may not have deserved it, and was able to put the past behind her and work together for a common goal. This is such a rare trait and I found it really admirable.

This was also the first LGBT romance novel I’ve ever read, and I was surprised at how much I really enjoyed it. The love between Evelyn and Celia was captivating, as was the love between Evelyn and Harry. The love between her and Harry was platonic, but it was such a deep love. I really loved Evelyn and Harry’s relationship throughout the book. I also really appreciated the love between Evelyn and Celia, despite the challenges they faced together, having to hide their relationship (the 1900s weren’t so accepting of LGBT relationships), and it certainly wasn’t without its faults, it was a true and lasting love.

I wasn’t happy with how the book ended as the topic of enabling suicide came up again, though, without spoiling the ending, I’ll just say I wasn’t totally upset about it given the circumstances.

Conclusion

I hate to reduce the book to politics, but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has a lot of political themes that not everyone is going to agree with. It was challenging for me to keep reading after these themes were revealed because of what I know and feel surrounding these topics. But if you can see from a somewhat middle perspective and are able to put your political disagreements aside, it really is a beautiful story. It depicts a really real and flawed side of humanity that I don’t think we see often enough. I think over the years, our expectations of other people have become unrealistic and shallow. We now live in a society where if something is broken, you throw it away. Evelyn was from an era where if something was broken, it could be fixed. I really valued that about this book and would love to see more books, movies, and content that promote this message. Overall, I am so glad I stuck it out and made it to the end of this book. It’s different, it’s raw, it’s real, and definitely worth the read!

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The Cozy Cat Rating: ★★★★