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lindasipsandspills · 1 year

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#2 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

General Information:

Edition: I stumbled over the Simon & Schuster version of 2017 and picked it right up. It’s the paperback cover, since I decided to read it for fun.

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid was born December 20th 1983, Maryland, U.S. Other well-known novels under her name include Daisy Jones & The Six as well as Malibu Rising.

Short synopsis (via goodreads): 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. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. 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 near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Page count: 385 paper pages (excluding the acknowledgments)

Representations: LGBTQ+, historical fiction from the 50s to the 90s, Showbiz

Initial thoughts post-read:

I had high expectations. I would’ve never imagined them to be overthrown. I was completely taken aback by Reid’s extremely enchanting writing style. I had to either read 50-70 pages in one sitting or not read at all. It was so easy to loose oneself in this world of show business and heartbreak that it simply felt like no time was used while reading this masterpiece. Yes, masterpiece. Eternally grateful to have had it recommended to me by so many of my friends, and I am even more excited to delve into further depths with this review.

A short note: I decided to pick sections that could perhaps ensue a wider introspection of what these specifically mean, in general, but also for the book itself. There were many beautiful quotes of which I picked the ones that resonated most with me, so by far not everything I highlighted. Enjoy!

Sections that picked my interest & interpretations:

I trust myself. Take, for instance, when I snapped at you earlier, back at the apartment, when you said what you did about my confessing sins. It wasn't a nice thing to do, and I'm not sure you deserved it. But I don't regret it. Because I know I have my reasons, and I did the best I could with every thought and feeling that led up to it."/ "You take umbrage with the word sin because it implies that you feel sorry." [...]/ "You can be sorry about something and not regret it," Evelyn says. (p. 25-26)

I suppose this specific line was what had me hooked when it comes to the book itself. She took apart a fleeting comment and made sure a message, as well as an underlying morale could be drawn from it. I was fascinated from here on out.

Evelyn looks at me with purpose. “Do you understand what I'm telling you? When you're given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn't give things. You take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.” (p. 35)

I have to agree with Evelyn, as nearly all instances in which she takes a step back from her narration about the past to underline a certain teaching she had gathered from these situations. If one doesn’t get on their feet and start working for what they want to achieve - they will never be granted the opportunity to do so in the first place. A paragraph filled with what it means to live in today’s society.

Grown men were watching me walk down the street, and some of the girls in my building didn't want to hang out with me anymore. It was a lonely business. Motherless, with an abusive father, no friends, and a sexuality in my body that my mind wasn't ready for. (p. 43)

This made me feel nostalgic. Not specifically limited to my own experiences growing up in an over sexualized society, but reminiscing the old times of the locker rooms at school. How very weird it was, when the first girls in our class started developing breasts. How obscene we all thought of it, how very shameful. Back then I questioned my response, because I did grow up in an agonizingly conservative household matter of factly. Was it perhaps a thought planted inside my head by my mother? Or was it a common thought shared by everyone? I looked around. Everybody had kept staring at the poor girl. I wish I could tell her how sorry I was. We, girls, made her, a young woman, feel uncomfortable in what she was turning. I now know that this was simply a perfect example of internalized misogyny towards our own gender. But it doesn’t excuse what had happened, and it won’t erase the memory inside the girl’s head. I was positively surprised having read this paragraph and seeing an opening for a further discussion about this specific topic.

If you've never been smacked across the face, let me tell you something, it is humiliating. Mostly because your eyes start to tear up, whether you mean to be crying or not. The shock of it and the sheer force of it stimulate your tear ducts./ There is no way to take a smack across the face and look stoic. All you can do is remain still and stare straight ahead, allowing your face to turn red and your eyes to bloom. (p. 77)

I’ve never read anything more accurate than this. I applaud you, Reid, because this makes me feel seen. It is the sheer agony of not being in control that makes a smack across the face so humiliating for the recipient. Not being able to do anything else other than letting emotions fly over your face and concentrating on keeping in any sounds you might utter. If the other passages wouldn’t have gotten me on this train, then this would’ve done the job.

“If you are heartbroken right now, then I feel for you deeply,” Evelyn says. “That I have the utmost respect for. That's the sort of thing that can split a person in two. But I wasn't heartbroken when Don left me. I simply felt my marriage had failed. And those are very different things.”/ When Evelyn says this, I stop my pen in place. I look up at her. And I don't know why I needed Evelyn to tell me that./ I wonder why that sort of distinction has never crossed my mind before. (p. 141)

I feel for Monique and I was so taken aback by that simple difference. Because yes, feeling heartbroken is one of the few things you can account for actually feeling so deeply about another person that you can’t see a future without them in it. Feeling as if the air to breathe has been taken from you. But a marriage failing because there are instances that cannot be dealt with, and noticing that there might be a possibility of the people involved to be happier when apart… that is truly something that should be digested properly. I’ve never thought about it the way Evelyn described it to Monique.

Chapter 28.

I had to specifically mention this chapter. This is my favorite inside the whole book. It was so well written - it could’ve been a stand-alone short story at this point. I loved the change of narration, the way the reader was suddenly put into the figure of a man pursuing a beautiful and alluring woman. How she played her cards. How everything worked so well faded into each other. This alone made me give the book 5 stars.

I felt myself pulling back, trying to take it all in. It shouldn't have felt so scandalous, and yet it absolutely was. Women have sex for intimacy. Men have sex for pleasure. That's what culture tells us./ The idea that I'd be shown to enjoy my body, to desire the male form just as strongly as I was desired, to show a woman putting her own physical pleasure at the forefront… it felt daring. (p. 262)

This was such an obvious realization. So obvious, yet completely overlooked. Again, I applaud Reid for emphasizing this simple, yet crucial difference between sex for a man and sex for a woman. I’ve never realized how this is still carried onto movies and real life dynamics in today’s age. It honestly makes me feel taken aback.

Evelyn shrugs slightly. “She always made sure the bad was outweighed by so much good. I… well, I didn't do that for her. I made it fifty-fifty. Which is about the cruelest thing you can do to someone you love. Give them just enough good to make them stick through a hell of a lot of bad. Of course, I realized all this when she left me. And I tried to fix it, but it was too late.” (p. 272)

This is important considering relationship dynamics as a whole. So very important. You shouldn’t disregard something so vital to a relationship because you are forcing your martyr stand-point onto the person that you’re supposedly having a relationship with. Having Hugo go completely beyond what is right and wrong by sleeping with a man in order to ‘save’ Celia and their relationship - it is too much. And above all, truly cruel. Again, marvelous way of demonstrating it and making sure it becomes a discussion topic.

Or maybe Robert merely stumbled into something that worked for him, unsure what he wanted until he had it. Some people are lucky like that. Me, I've always gone after what I wanted with everything in me. Others fall into happiness. Sometimes I wish I was like them. I'm sure sometimes they wish they were like me. (p. 344)

This stands in a paradoxical relationship to the second quote I picked in this section. “Falling into happiness” and “going after what [one] wanted” pose parallels to the waiting of being given what one seeks and others going out of their way to take it. This is however a different context, and has to be considered with it being more abstract with Robert than it was with Evelyn marrying her first husband in order to get somewhere. Anyways, it was interesting to see such a parallel drawn, working the exact opposite way than she had advised Monique.

Six quotes I wanted to share

“So do yourself a favor and learn how to grab life by the balls, dear. Don't be so tied up trying to do the right thing when the smart thing is so painfully clear.” (p. 30)

People think that intimacy is about sex./ But intimacy is about truth./ When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is “You’re safe with me” - that's intimacy. (p. 112)

You wonder what it must be like to be a man, to be so confident that the final say is yours. (p. 180)

It's always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly. (p. 251)

There is a difference between sexuality and sex. I used sex to get what I wanted. Sex is just an act. Sexuality is a sincere expression of desire and pleasure. That I always kept for Celia. (p. 271)

And maybe one day I'll find someone I love the way Evelyn loved Celia. Or maybe I might just find someone I love the way my parents loved each other. Knowing to look for it, knowing there are all different types of great loves out there, is enough for me for now. (p. 380)