Evelyn Hugo and The Beauty of a Flawed Heroine

Ninth-grader Emily Butler reviews Taylor Jenkins Reid’s award-winning novel

When I first heard about the worldwide sensation The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, I was skeptical at best. Like most trends, I wasn’t sure that the book would live up to the hype.

Boy, was I wrong.

By the first few pages, I could tell this book was going to be spectacular, and I was right. This book made me laugh, cry, and gasp. But most importantly, it made me think.

One thing that is so spectacularly special about this book is Evelyn Hugo herself. Taylor Jenkins Reid has crafted Evelyn in such a thoughtful and beautiful way that she feels unequivocally real. I was convinced by the end of this book that Evelyn Hugo was a real fifties icon, and was disappointed after a quick Google search revealed that she was in fact fictional and created entirely from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s amazing imagination.

The thing that makes Evelyn seem so beautifully human is how flawed she is as a character. She is not a hero, and not a villain either. Instead, she is in that fruitful, fascinating morally gray category, and she doesn’t pretend that she isn’t. On page 366 she states, “No one is just a victim or a victor. Everyone is somewhere in between. People who go around casting themselves as one or the other are not only kidding themselves, but they’re also painfully unoriginal.”

Well said, Evelyn.

Even though Evelyn has done some very questionable acts in her lifetime, you can’t help but love her and root for her. On paper, she is so unlikeable, and yet she is also incredibly lovable. I think the way that Taylor Jenkins Reid was able to accomplish this was by having Evelyn know that she really isn’t a “good” person, and openly admitting that she has done a lot of bad things in her life that she isn’t exactly proud of. It’s refreshing to see a character who owns up to her past and doesn’t hide behind regret and remorse.

My favorite thing about Evelyn was how determined, cunning, and genius she was. She came from almost nothing, worked her way up to the top of the mountain, and then busted her butt to stay there. This book shed a light on how difficult it was for women, especially a woman with a secret, to succeed in Hollywood back in the fifties and sixties.

Evelyn had to hide her true self, and use marriage, which is supposed to be the utmost symbol of love and commitment, as a weapon to succeed in a world that was set against her. One of my favorite moments was when Evelyn cunningly convinced Mick Riva (husband number three) to get married to her and then immediately have it annulled all while making him think it was his idea. Evelyn weaponized Mick Riva’s own low opinion of her and his desire of using Evelyn as an object. All the while he thought she was just some dumb blonde.

While this story could be hilarious and entertaining at times, it was also extremely heartbreaking and sad, but in the most beautiful way imaginable. I don’t consider myself to be a very emotional person, and I have never cried after finishing a book. Yet, after finishing this one and trying to sleep, the tears wouldn’t stop coming. In the last few chapters, after every single one of Evelyn’s relations passes away, I couldn’t help but feeling like I was Evelyn, and I was losing them too.

The chapter just before Celia passes away was one of the most devastating passages I had ever read. The same goes for when Harry passes away, and for Connor as well. The way the author writes about loss was so heartbreaking. As someone who has recently lost a person who was very important to me, I related to the writing so much. I cried after this line on page 357, after Connor’s death: “And when they put her in the ground next to her father, I broke as I had never broken before. The devastating luxury of panic overtook me again. And it has never left.”

As an avid reader, a very important part of any book for me is the ending. Even if I liked the majority of the book, if the ending is disappointing, then it really taints how I think of the book after I’ve finished. But that didn’t happen this time around. If anything, after reading the ending, I loved the book even more.

If you’ve also read it, you were probably similarly shocked and devastated. Although it was sad, the ending really tied together with the story in a fitting and beautiful way. Obviously, I was heartbroken for Evelyn, but I also thought it was appropriate that she died the way she lived: in complete control and on her own terms.

To conclude this essay, I just want to thank Taylor Jenkins Reid for creating such an amazing, gut-wrenching, and probing novel that truly made me change the way I see the world. This book impacted and inspired me as a person, and I know the same is true for countless people all around the world.

Thank you for creating such a beautifully flawed and complex character in Evelyn, and for reminding us that no one is simply good or bad. And for anyone who still hasn’t read this masterpiece of a novel, do yourself a favor, and read it now. I promise that this book will make you feel everything all at once and that it will alter the way you see yourself, as it has for me.

Emily Butler is a ninth-grader at the online school, Connections Academy. In addition to being an avid reader and writer, she’s also a competitive figure skater. You can check out more of her book reviews just like this on her Instagram page: @emisbooks77.