The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Review
I am very late to the Taylor Jenkins Reid party. Of course, I watched Daisy Jones and The Six on Amazon Prime during the summer. I fell in love with that world and shared my review a few months ago. But I had never read, or in my case, listened to any of Reid’s books. With Spotify Premium now including thousands of audiobooks I got the chance to listen to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo during the week. I expected romance, drama and escapism but was delivered a tale of heartbreak, pain and sacrifice.
The Premise
If you are unaware of what this book is about, this excerpt from Goodreads sets the scene for this glorious and tragic tale:
“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.
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.”
Evelyn Hugo
Reid’s protagonist came from nothing in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. Her mother died when she was young and she feared her father would either hit her or sexually assault her as she got older. By older I mean, age 14. A recurring theme in this novel is how aware Evelyn was of her body and sexuality from such a young age, largely in response to how men reacted to it. She could either let herself be seen as a victim when their advances were forceful or use her beauty to get exactly what she wanted. It is for this reason that Reid has created an exceptionally complicated character that is passionate, motivated and driven to do whatever it takes for fame, money and security. I absolutely love her.
The Husbands
I’m not going to dive into each of the husbands and offer my take on them because honestly, they are all mostly assholes (except Rex, Harry and Robert). They serve their purpose to fuel Evelyn’s career, cover the scandals and drive box office sales. These marriages were transactional and fed the narrative that Evelyn controlled herself. In an era without public relations experts, Evelyn Hugo may have been the founding father of what we now today as spin doctors.
Hollywood, the nation and most importantly, the press were obsessed with her love life. She had “failed marriages” whilst the men around her got to “have” her. It’s a narrative we see today most obviously with the cultural obsession of Taylor Swift’s love life. But despite all the husbands serving their purposes in one way or another, they were really a smoke screen for Evelyn’s one true love; Celia St James.
Celia St James
The pair met on the set of the Little Women and initially came to blows over Evelyn’s fame and Celia’s talent. However, over the years friendship grew to passion, love, companionship and total loss. Celia contrasts a lot with Evelyn most notably in their upbringing. Evelyn came from poverty whilst Celia is from an old-money Georgia family. She would always have security, Evelyn fought tooth and nail for hers. It’s also important to remember that their relationship at the time was completely illegal, they could have been committed for being bisexual and gay. This was a difficult pill for Celia to swallow as she wanted to be out and proud with the love of her life, unfortunately this couldn’t be the case.
Listening to the book, I found Celia expected nearly too much from Evelyn during their secret relationship. She made demands that would be difficult for a public couple to discuss let alone an illegal and secret relationship. What did she expect her to do in instances with Mick Reva and the Don Adler film? Evelyn was a fighter, her actions may not always have been acceptable to us but to her, this is what she needed to do to protect her career and the love of her life.
Homosexuality in the Golden Age of Hollywood
In addition to Evelyn and Celia’s homosexual relationship, Evelyn’s husband Harry Cameron was also a gay man. For a period, they had a purposeful family setup with Harry being in a relationship with Celia’s husband John Braverman. In reality, these relationships were known as “lavender marriages” and refer to marriages arranged by Hollywood studios between one or more gay, lesbian or bisexual people in order to hide their sexual orientation from the public. The whole purpose of this was to hide alternative lifestyles from the public who were the paying customer.
Rock Hudson
In reality, one of the most notable gay actors of the Hollywood era is Rock Hudson. Hudson was a heart-throb who starred beside Doris Day in multiple romantic comedies (that we still watch in the McKearney household on a Saturday afternoon). Speculation into his sexuality was a catalyst for the creation of tabloid press (what a shame) but sadly Hudson died from AIDs in 1985, the most famous person at the time to publicly announce he had contracted the virus and was by connection, gay.
I think it’s important to understand the culture at the time Reid’s characters (and real life people) were living through. Words like “F****” were used daily to describe homosexuals, mid-century Americans would want to kill you if you were suspected of being gay. It was impossible to be open and proud, all relationships were conducted in secret and you could only hope that no one would ever find out.
The Industry of Fame
Of the entire book that covers domestic violence, homosexuality, assault and manipulation, one of the main jarring themes that is prevalent is how horrible it must be to be famous. Of course, there’s the perks, money, wealth, security and being recognised for your career. Let’s take a look at the negatives though, changing your identity to be accepted, hiding your sexuality, being ridiculed everyday in the news or in today’s case, the always-on world of social media.
Once out there, your life would always be under the scrutiny and watchful eye of audiences, the public and studio execs. The boys-club era of Hollywood must have been absolutely horrific for women culminating in the recent #MeTooo movement. For Reid’s characters, these people had to sacrifice so much for their thirst of fame, fortune and glory. But at what cost?
Iconic Ending
As the story climaxes, I believe the last line is one of the most iconic finishing sentences to any book. When Monique asks Evelyn Hugo, “Doesn’t it bother you that all anyone talks about when they talk about you is the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo?” And she responds:
“No … because they are just husbands. I am Evelyn Hugo. And anyways, I think once people know the truth, they will be much more interested in my wife.”
I mean, I lay in bed listening to that smiling with tears in my eyes like a crazy person. It’s such a f*** you to the patriarchy, society and life that separated her from Celia, Connor and Harry. Evelyn Hugo is flawed, imperfect, dynamite and an absolute badass. If you haven’t gathered from this blog, I am telling you to read or listen to this book, it’s not fiction it’s basically self-help.