“I’m under absolutely no obligation to make sense to you.”
This is my very first book by Taylor Jenkins Reid (TJR) and if this is all I could say about it, then it’ll be that The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is my new favorite book and TJR is an author who is now on my auto-buy list!
I have thought very long and hard about this review and I was unsure about how to write a review for a new favorite book coherently. It seems impossible even as I am typing this right now. The book is raw, it’s compelling, it’s entertaining and IT IS brilliant to say the least.
From the title of this book, you know immediately that the book has everything to do with someone called Evelyn Hugo and it has something to do with her having seven husbands. What you won’t know until you start reading it and what you will really be questioning throughout the book is, out of the seven husbands, who was the true love of her life and why does Evelyn pick Monique Grant for her “interview”?
Evelyn Hugo was the “style icon of the 50s, sexpot in the 60s and 70s and Oscar winner in the 80s!” She is a film legend, an icon of glamour and elegance but also someone who was never seen for who she really was – albeit a few. She taught me a couple of important life lessons through this book which I would love to share with you as well:
- there is power in saying your own name and introducing yourself with confidence.
- words that bear great meaning are NEVER to be used casually.
- you can be sorry about something and not regret it.
- intimacy is impossible without trust.
- never let anyone make you feel ordinary.
- at the time of a crisis, panic is a luxury you can’t afford.
- being yourself – your true, entire self – is always going to feel like you’re swimming upstream and there will always be a price to pay.
- nobody deserves anything, it’s simply a matter of who is willing to go and take it for themselves.
The thing about Evelyn Hugo is that she is SO FUCKING GREY! You will love her, you will even hate her guts at some point but the one thing you won’t be able to do is stop admiring her. She will demand your attention AND you WILL give it to her. You will not be able to stop thinking about her!
The most beautiful part about her and this book is that it’s so awfully raw. It’s life. It’s ugly but it’s also glamourous. It’s ridiculously difficult and unfair but it’s also worth it! It’s tiring but it’s most certainly a party.
Evelyn Hugo isn’t just a person, she’s a feeling, just like Hollywood which isn’t just a place either. I know I will continue to re-read this book multiple times over, because that’s what favorite books are for right? I know I will on random days read random pages and still find my heart to be broken and put back together at the same time. I know that if I could give this book a million stars, even THAT would not be enough. What I’m trying to say is, GO READ THIS BOOK AND I PROMISE YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
