The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Book Review

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Book Review

Morgan Lutz, Pinnacle Student Life Editor

 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a historical fiction romance book. It was written by Taylor Jenkins and published in  Evelyn Hugo is a famous actress in the 60’s who was known for her beauty. She has had seven husbands and has been accused of having affairs and many different conflicts that are discussed throughout the book. When Evelyn Hugo is 79, she decides that she wants to be interviewed. She contacted a big time news company called Vivant to do an interview, although she would only do one if she was Interviewed by Monique Grant. Monique is not well known as a journalist so this surprises her and her boss. 

     Monique meets with Evelyn and she learns that Evelyn would like Monique to write a biography and publish it when Evelyn dies. Monique took this opportunity and decided to meet with Evelyn over the next few days to hear about Evelyn’s life. The book is told in Monique’s perspective in the present and many chapters go back to when Evelyn was starting, and throughout her career. 

      Evelyn talks about how she grew up in poverty, was abused by her father, the death of her mother, and many other hardships that she dealt with growing up in “Hells Kitchen”. Her first marriage was to the man who gave her a ride to Hollywood. She then discusses her next six marriages, affairs, a secret girlfriend, and many other secrets about her life. The themes of the book are shown throughout the homophobia that Evelyn faced even when the world did not know that she is gay. Evelyn also faced a lot of sexism and racism throughout her career. 

      Many different people can look up to Evelyn Hugo as a realistic role model. She is not shown as someone who is perfect, instead she is shown working through her mistakes and trying her best to be the better person. 

     I would rate this book a 4/5. I thoroughly enjoyed the topics that were discussed and the way that Evelyn told her story. However I felt that some parts of the book were repetitive and drawn out too long. Overall I think that it is a book that everyone should at least pick up and try to read.