Book Review: The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ is Taylor Jenkins Reid’s fifth novel, and was released in 2017. Although she had released several books in the past, it was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo which progressed her career and made her an acclaimed novelist: it was a hit among the readers of TikTok, and made its way onto hundreds if not thousands of TBR piles since its initial release.

The novel has had an overwhelmingly positive reception, and I was quick to view the book with skepticism, after all, what was it that made this book so popular, aside from the sheer scandal of being married seven times in your lifetime!

‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ follows Monique Grant, a young journalist, making her way in the world with Vivant Magazine, when suddenly she is called into her supervisor’s office with the opportunity of a lifetime, to interview the gorgeous starlet of the 1950s and 60s Hollywood, Evelyn Hugo in anticipation of her donating a plethora of designer gowns to a cancer charity, but not all is what it seems, and while Evelyn lays her hand on the table, and offers Monique the gig of a lifetime, she learns that the life of fame and fortune wasn’t as amazing as the glitsy magazines made it out to be.

Evelyn is a compelling, captivating character, and the intrigue and interest that onlookers and fans would have of her is mirrored in the way she narrates her life story. Evelyn owns her decisions and holds her hands up to acknowledge she wasn’t necessarily always in the right. She is cunning, and forthright, and often fought tooth and nail to get what she wanted, regardless of consequences.

Evelyn is a reliable narrator, that has no reason to lie, and the bare-boned honesty of the novel was raw and often pulled at my heartstrings. I felt, just as Monique did, that I knew Evelyn and understood Evelyn and the circumstances that befell her. It was an intimate read, like whispered secrets, and I loved every moment of it.