The Seven and Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Happy Halloween, friends! So I have bad news… I love spooky season, but I do so much Halloween stuff in my regular life in October that I opted to not do a spooky novel this year. Instead, I thought I’d have some fun with numbers. So this month I’m reviewing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid because seven comes after The Atlas Six, get it? At least I think I’m funny. Anyways, I’ve never read a TJR book before, but Instagram seems to love her novels, so I really wanted to try. Then, my best friend (shout out Talysa) recommended this novel, and here we are. To accompany today’s review, I made a classic 7 and 7.

7 and 7 Recipe

2oz Seagram’s Seven

2oz 7-Up

1oz Peach Schnapps*

Lime wedge

*Peach schnapps is an optional ingredient

In a highball glass filled with ice, add all ingredients and stir together. Then garnish with a wedge of lime, and you’re done! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Seagram’s Seven at any liquor stores near me, so I used regular Crown whiskey instead. But, I honestly would never be able to tell the difference anyway, so we’re fine.

This cocktail is so much better with this month’s special ingredient, peach schnapps. I honestly don’t really like whiskey (except whiskey sours), so the little bit of schnapps added the perfect amount of sweetness for me. Also, peach and whiskey always pair so nicely together, which made this truly the perfect special ingredient for this drink! I chose this ingredient because one of the most important characters in the novel, Celia, is called the “Georgia Peach” by tabloids throughout the novel. I honestly had a hard time picking this month’s special ingredient as I was really hung up on the idea of something emerald, but once I remembered the Georgia Peach thing I realized it was meant to be!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Synopsis

(from book cover)

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 nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Review

“If you are intolerable, let me be the one to tolerate you.”

OK, so I had a really hard time with this review. Before I started The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo I had only heard amazing things. Then, when I actually started to read it I hated it. The first 20 pages of this novel had me wondering why on Earth anyone enjoyed this book. But then, I got into Evelyn’s story and my mind changed. So to say I’ve been all over the place with this one is an understatement. That being said, let’s get into it.

Since I already mentioned it, let’s start with the beginning of the novel. The first chapter did not hook me. The writing felt trite and like the author was trying too hard. However, that’s not my biggest negative with the first 20 pages. Right out the gate, there were weird comments about Monique and Frankie’s dark skin tones. Which immediately screamed “white author trying to write from the Black perspective and failing” to me. This was largely on the first two pages of the novel, but it immediately bothered me.

Then, within the first 17 pages there were 5 different comments about how being skinny equals being pretty. I could maybe let this pass if it was in newspaper articles from the 1950s, but it was all said in the context of the time of the novel (2017). And 2017 is far far too recent to be saying things like this. As someone who works in the fitness industry, I frequently have people telling me they’re “not skinny enough” and it breaks my heart. I spend the majority of my career trying to help people feel comfortable and confident in their own bodies, so to see comments like this just genuinely disgusted me.

OK, I need to move on from that or I could literally write a novel about it. So, with all of that being said those were my two biggest complaints for the entire book! Luckily, past those first pages there were far fewer weird comments about race and size, so I could try to appreciate the rest of the novel.

The strongest aspect of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was the writing. Reid is a really beautiful writer. The prose was smart, thoughtful, and fresh. And the writing style matched the tone and themes of the novel really nicely, which is probably why most of Reid’s novels are historical fiction. The story was also well paced and pulled me along perfectly, so I never felt bored despite the novel being a fake biography (I don’t even read real biographies). Side note: the fake biography thing reminded me of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, which is interesting because Reid also wrote Daisy Jones and the Six, which a lot of people compared Opal and Nev to!

So largely the writing was great… except for when it came to Monique’s dialogue. Almost every time her character spoke I wanted it to stop. Luckily, she doesn’t actually have much dialogue! The main flaw with her dialogue is that it was so unrealistic that it made me not like her character at all. I thought it was interesting that the historical dialogue was great, but the 2017 dialogue was awkward and didn’t work. Again, I think there’s a clear reason why Reid’s novels are largely historical fictions.

Similar to The Atlas Six, the idea that everyone has flaws was a pretty big theme in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. This was largely seen in Evelyn’s portions of the novel as she really leaned in to how imperfect she was. Which is funny because, in my opinion, Evelyn was an almost perfect character. She was nuanced, intelligent, imperfect, and honest (at least in her own way). Evelyn’s sections were also interesting because of the juxtaposition between being ruthless and touching. Toeing the line between these two traits so masterfully furthered my feelings that Reid’s writing shined in the Evelyn sections.

I will admit that I have a bit of a bias towards Evelyn because emerald is her colour, and was even the colour of her first wedding ring. Coincidentally, emerald is also my favourite colour and the colour of my wedding ring (let’s all I hope I only have one marriage). So, she immediately had positive points from me for that. Beyond the bias, I swear the Evelyn pages of this novel are where I can see why people rave about this book so much.

Overall, I’m sure this review has shown just how all over the place I am with this novel. And I feel like the majority of my comments have been negative, but I truly did enjoy this novel. Past the first pages I really didn’t have any problems with the story, except for the few portions about Monique. And, honestly, if the novel had been any more Monique and any less Evelyn I would be rating it differently. But luckily, it was the perfect amount of both.

The main takeaways of my feelings for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo are the writing was fantastic and the story was heartwrenching, intriguing, thought-provoking, and unique. So with all of that chaos being said, I definitely recommend this novel (maybe just skip the first little bit). And I definitely recommend the drink. It’s a classic with a twist, just like Evelyn.

Teghann

My Rating:

Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment or on Instagram. Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading The Atlas Six on the Beach, The House in the Deep Cerulean Sea, and The Final Corpse Revival of Opal and Nev if you liked this one!

Teghann

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