Book Review — The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Book: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Date of publication: 2017. Genre: Romance/Historical. Publisher: Atria Books

We all love a good scandalous book to read while away. And what better than the world of glamour and the world of an Evelyn Hugo. Just to reiterate — This is purely from book and character analysis and I in no way condone the lifestyle or ideologies. Also, spoiler alerts ahead :D

Evelyn Hugo

Evelyn Hugo is an Oscar winning actress in 1950s in Hollywood. She comes from Hell’s kitchen from a very humble background. Runs away from her home when her mother passes away as she thinks her father will sell her for money. Her mother had a dream of becoming an actress and living in a large mansion and this is exactly what Evelyn thinks of when she runs away. That her ticket to a good life is Hollywood. She takes pride in her beauty, not as much as in any of her other aspects of personality and uses her sexuality to get what she wants, movies, top roles, meetings with the who’s who in industry. She uses people to get what she wants. Her first marriage was for a role, divorces the husband and so on and so forth till the 7th husband and keeps using the rationale of a new role, or money or social status or millions.

POV- The ego of being a star is bigger than any love for Evelyn. Its a different ruthless character. In today’s times, sometimes, this has been labelled as self love. I am not sure if self love was what it was, after a certain point of time. Yes, running away from her home was an act of love for self as also it was self preservation. But from then on using her sexuality for getting her first film because she didn’t know any better maybe, was a choice. I have read the book, so I can understand the desperation behind the decision she made, but it was unfortunately a incorrect choice.

Celia St. James

This character matters because being placed in 1950s, she identified as a lesbian. She wanted to be a star like Evelyn and stating her intentions were friendly, wanted to be seen with Evelyn when the paparazzi was present. Evelyn being street smart did not allow her to take advantage of the situation. Celia however, struck a deal with Evelyn wherein she teaches her method acting and nuances of it and Evelyn gives her a chance to be seen with her at parties, at lunches and thus increasing the social standing and which then resulted in her getting more films. Celia loved Evelyn, however, Evelyn unfortunately loved her millions and stardom more.

Harry Cameron

Harry Cameron is an important character because he is shown as Evelyn’s best friend while he starts as a producer for Sunset Studios. They make some good famous movies together and he supports her decisions or gives her the right direction. Evelyn also trusts Harry, given that he was one of the first people who guided and saw potential in her.

Again the LGBTQ aspect is the main aspect in Evelyn’s life and how they navigated complex situations of non acceptance in that era. If we just see it as masculine and feminine energy, then too you can understand the story better.

Monique

Monique a new writer at Vivant and is the one whom Evelyn chooses to tell her life story. I will leave the why as otherwise it is a complete spoiler.

But what struck out in this book is that, we tend to hide aspects of ourselves for public image, for societal expectations and fitting in a certain box. But towards the end all they wanted to do was be with people they love away from the public eye, but the time had passed. They stayed in Spain together for good 5–7 years ( in early fifties) but Celia was then dying of cancer. They were now in their fifties and the constant regret shown was they did not have courage earlier. Not that they didn’t have the means or the money but for instance, once Evelyn placed an explicit scene for cinema with her ex husband above Celia’s feelings or that, Evelyn married seven times as the title states, each time for wrong reasons when each time, Celia was the right choice for her due to her ego and maybe quiet desperation. After Celia died, Evelyn (though not legal) exercised her right to die by overdose of pills after giving her life’s story to Monique.

The only reason why this story works is because Celia is a female else she had won more Oscars than Evelyn and in a heterosexual relationship with both being successful with enough attraction they would be together. Else the story won’t hold water. It’s a one time page turner. Not a classic and nor does it claim to be. Gives a glimpse into how people lived their lives some 50–80 years before and yet how so many things still remain constant in the world and this is such a relevant read.

Stars — 6/10 for the fast paced story and good English used.

Do read it and let me know any new book suggestions.

Love & Light ❤

Ritika