The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins ReidMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book made me angry, and I despised Evelyn Hugo. I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction, and that there was no point in getting so angry about someone who wasn't even real..
Hugo has invited someone to write her life story, to be published after her death. It's her way of confessing her sins, setting the record straight - so to speak. She did horrible things, and to her credit, she's very blunt about all she did. She used people, she had sex with people she didn't like just to get things she wanted, she lied all the time, she manipulated the press to get attention, she treated the people she claimed to love horribly. Even in telling her story, she is completely using the person she's manipulated into writing her story - and when it's revealed why, it's really awful.
And maybe I would have appreciated this book more if there had been some acknowledgement of what a bad person Evelyn was. But in the end, it was all summed up as if she'd done some powerful, brave thing in telling her story. How brave is it to reveal all after the person is dead? That's not brave, that is complete cowardice. Finally revealing the love of her life because she felt exposure was important - but that isn't what she did. She kept her true love hidden her entire life, only allowing others to find out in a book that would be published after she was dead. And this so-called true love, she had seven weddings that she made sure the entire world knew about - rarely for love, usually for the attention. When she decided she wanted to "marry" the person she claimed was her one true love, she made the suggestion in bed, said they should just say vows to each other - again, keeping it secret, never revealing in until her posthumous biography. Also, saying she wanted the world to know that none of it mattered, she never cared about the fame, only the people she loved. She may have said that, but none of her actions supported that, not at all. Easy to make claims like that when it's all over, when the fame is well-established and everyone she loved was gone. Of course she's saying they're important now, because she realizes what she lost. Everything she did was for the fame, and she repeatedly abused or neglected the people she said she loved so much.
Even though so much happened, and there were so many highs and lows in the various relationship - seven husbands and several other lovers - there was a coldness to the story. I never felt any sort of emotion. The big, great love story did not feel at all convincing or passionate, and that was disappointing. The idea was great, but the presentation made it seem like just another convenience for Evelyn.
I read this because I saw so many people saying it was great. And I admit, Hollywood stories are intriguing, but if that's what you're interested in, there are so many Hollywood biographies and memoirs out there to read - authorized or unauthorized. I've read a lot of those, and that could be another reason this book didn't work for me. I felt like the author had taken bits and pieces from stories about actual Hollywood stars to build Evelyn and they simply didn't work for me because they felt like bits and pieces, not a complete, complicated person.
View all my reviews
