The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

      Imagine finally revealing all of your secrets to the world after years of being out of the press. Explaining everything behind all of your decisions, whether or not it makes you look like a good or bad person. Evelyn Hugo - the main character of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - did just this. In the 1950's, 60's, 70's, and 80's she was running Old Hollywood, but by the mid 80's she was done with acting. After this she stayed out of the media for almost a decade until she one day decided to do an interview with a writer, Monique Grant. At this interview she made it clear that she did not want to do a regular interview, but instead she wanted Monique to write a biography of her full life story. This biography would reveal all of her secrets and would give an answer to all of the questions people have about her, no matter how personal. In this biography she would describe all of the personal sacrifices she had to make to become the star that she is, starting from the very beginning of her career and her first husband, Ernie Diaz. As the book progresses, so does Evelyn's life as she tells it. From start to finish, the story of Evelyn Hugo is very interesting and engaging. I rate The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 5/5 stars because of how much I enjoyed the overall plot. 

      The beginning of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo starts by introducing the main characters, Evelyn and Monique. Evelyn is introduced through an article that Monique is reading. This article gives us all of the background necessary to know who Evelyn is. After this is when Monique and Evelyn are introduced to each other when Evelyn reaches out to do an interview for a cover shoot with Monique. This interview did not go as planned when next thing she knows, Monique is independently writing Evelyn Hugo's biography. The initial shock was gone shortly after the pair started to meet regularly so Evelyn could start reciting her whole life to Monique to write. As they continued to meet, more and more progress was being made on this soon to be biography. Evelyn was revealing all of her secrets and the reasons behind all of the decisions she made, good or bad. The bad may have began to outweigh the good for Monique as they continued to meet because she started to question why she was writing this at all. Of course Monique would benefit from publishing a book about Evelyn Hugo, but she asks herself if the risks that come with that are worth it, quite like how Evelyn does as she reflects on her past decisions. Together they learn that everything they do comes with risks and sometimes you just have to take them. When Evelyn recounts her past she becomes simultaneously one of the most loveable and hateable characters. The author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid - wrote Evelyn's character in such a perfect way that allows this to happen. While writing she had to have mad many specific choices to get the plot and characters to develop exactly as she wanted them to. Overall, the plot and the way that it evolved throughout the different sections and chapters was amazing. 

      Beyond the actual plot of the book comes the writing and how its constructed, which Taylor Jenkins Reid also did an amazing job with. The way that The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was written really tied the entire book together and is what made me like it so much. One of my favorite parts of how the book was written was how it was separated by each of her husbands. This helped give a timeline of everything and it also helped justify some of the decisions that she made. This is also just something that not many other books would really have the opportunity to do so I think that it was very interesting and new. Another part of the writing that I liked was that it switched between Monique and Evelyn's point of view. Although at some points I did not completely like this, everything tied in at the end and it helped break some things up so you weren't reading the same thing the entire time. Another part of the book that was written very well was all of the various plot elements seen throughout the book. The conflict, setting, descriptions of the characters, and many other things were all amazing parts of the writing. I really enjoyed how the conflict throughout the book was never really intense, but the rest of the writing still kept you wanting to keep reading. One of the driving points of the book was how descriptive many parts of it were. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo takes place in an Old Hollywood setting and the descriptions of the characters and the general tone of the book did a good job to keep this vision. As I was reading I could picture the vintage look of Old Hollywood, and of Evelyn and her life because of these things. All in all, I really liked the plot of the book, but the writing itself and how it was put together and executed made The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo even better for me. 

     As I previously mentioned, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of my favorite books, which is why it gets the obvious rating of 5/5 stars. The writing and the story itself were why I rated it so high. The story was self driven and engaging which made it very enjoyable to read. Also, the main characters - especially Evelyn - were very easy to get attached to. The way that The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was set up makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens next, without it being too intense. This is just one of the ways that this book stands out from many others. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read fiction and historical fiction. Another reason why this book stands out in a positive way for me is because it is a historical fiction book that is not about war, which most historical fiction books are. There are many other reasons why this book is so great in my opinion, such as its inclusion of minorities and not widely talked about topics. In the time period that this book takes place in racial minorities and sexual minorities were a big deal and it was important that both of those things were included in this book, as well as talk of domestic abuse. While it was a fictional story, there was many important lessons and truths behind Evelyn's story which made her character seem even more real. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a favorite book of mine that no one would regret reading because of the great plot and short line between reality and fiction.