The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - January 2023 Book Club Reading

[Falselogic]

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the 5th book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book is presented as the tell-all of a retired movie star from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Over the course of the book, film legend Evelyn Hugo tells her life story to reporter Monique Grant. At the age of 79, with all her close family and ex-spouses dead, Evelyn is ready to reveal the true story of her life, which she has hidden from the public for decades.

Monique is a struggling writer who has been trying to find success for over a decade. She’s in the middle of a separation from her husband, and wanting a distraction, wholeheartedly throws herself into researching Evelyn’s life for the interview. Evelyn offers Monique exclusive rights to Evelyn’s very valuable biography, and Monique has no idea why. The book is organized into chronological sections that follow Evelyn’s relationships with each of her seven husbands, punctuated by conversations between Monique and Evelyn during the interview for the biography.

 

[Violentvixen]

A friend lent me this about six months ago and another friend gave it to other people as Christmas gifts and said it was the best book she read this year. I'm excited to finally get started on it!

 

[lincolnic]

Holy crap, I just went to put a hold on this at the library and even though the book came out in 2017, it's still got a huge wait list -- at the moment, 167 holds on 70 copies. (Another edition has 144 holds on 48 copies.) It doesn't seem likely that I'll be getting ahold of this before the month is out, but I'll have to read it whenever I can get ahold of a copy.

 

[Olli]

I put a hold on this book at the library almost exactly a year ago. The holds only last for a year before they time out, and I decided to buy a print copy instead. Unfortunately it's not likely that I'll get to it this month, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

 

[Falselogic]

That's wild. There was no wait at my library for the audiobook?!

But when I look at the digital edition of the ebook i see that they have 395 copies in circulation, and there is a slight wait of you want to check it out?!

 

[Violentvixen]

I have a copy my friend lent me, but took a look at my library and yep, 176 holds on 25 copies.

For those of you who can't find it, worth asking friends if anyone has it. This book is incredibly popular and you may know someone who has a copy.

 

[Falselogic]

Im pretty high up on the ebook. If I get it and you need a copy please DM me and I will see what I can do.

 

[Falselogic]

Holy crap, I just went to put a hold on this at the library and even though the book came out in 2017, it's still got a huge wait list -- at the moment, 167 holds on 70 copies. (Another edition has 144 holds on 48 copies.) It doesn't seem likely that I'll be getting ahold of this before the month is out, but I'll have to read it whenever I can get ahold of a copy.

I put a hold on this book at the library almost exactly a year ago. The holds only last for a year before they time out, and I decided to buy a print copy instead. Unfortunately it's not likely that I'll get to it this month, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

And anyone else who might need it I have a .mobi file of this book if you would like for me to send it to you. Please DM me.

 

[lincolnic]

Thanks, I appreciate the offer! I'm just not really an ebook person, but I hope some other folks will take you up on it.

 

[Falselogic]

I wish I knew more about golden age Hollywood. So, I could perhaps attach real people to the characters in the book. I guess I could do some googling and see what other people think...

But before I do that what do y'all think?

 

[Violentvixen]

I've done nothing more than add this as currently reading in Goodreads so no idea at the moment, but hope to read a bit this weekend. But I would say most of my knowledge of actors of this era is from Looney Tunes parodies of them.

 

[Positronic Brain]

Hi! I'm busy being dead but I'm breaking radio silence to let you know I've started reading this.

I was hesitant to read this because, despite the good word of mouth, I'm more of a SciFi/Fantasy and Romantic Comedy kind of guy and a fictional biography of a Golden Age Hollywood artist didn't tickle my fancy. So I'm pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm liking it - I like the the voice in the narratives, I really like the framing device and I'm loving Evelyn Hugo.

I'm at the beginning of the First Husband and Evelyn Hugo is awesome. She's an elderly woman who is at the twilight of her life and doesn't care what anybody thinks about her, and I find refreshing that even at a young age she had no qualms of using her biological gifts to game the misogynistic system she was born into. Her insistence that Monique ask for as much money for her memories as a white man would get says a lot about her, and I like her a lot and I want to read about her more.

I'm going into it blind but I have an idea of who was the love of her life, but there's this phrase Monique drops, that we color our perception because we know how things turned out, that I think will play into all of this later.

Great book, looking forward to the rest of it.

 

[Violentvixen]

I just got to chapter 23 and am loving this. I want to know what happens next both in the story Evelyn is narrating and in Monique's. Just really well done.

Like @Positronic Brain this isn't my normal type of book so I wasn't sure I'd like it. But I nominated it because so many different people told me they loved it and that was hard to ignore. I definitely didn't realize it was still so popular so hope people are able to get a copy, or read it later on and post then.

 

[Falselogic]

I finished it today. I will also say that I never would have picked up this book if it wasn't for the book club! So thank you to @Violentvixen for nominating it, the rest of you for voting for it, and for coming together to do this book club with me.

I reiterate that I really want to read an annotated version of this book where the author or some other knowledgeable editor points out all the references I missing as well as the direct and indirect inspirations. In the meantime, if the background of this book interested you I think you would really like Karina Longworth's You Must Remember This podcast.

Finished the book spoilers I started guessing that Evelyn's love was a woman when she first started refusing to answers Monique's questions. I also guessed that one of her husband's was going to be physically abusive but only because I've known about this from other bios of old Hollywood stories. I assume everyone had Harry as the favorite husband, how upsetting it was when John dies and then when Harry dies. The relationship that those four had together and the happiness they had. Even without knowing that there were two more husbands I knew it wouldn't last. I did keep trying to guess the relationship between Evelyn and Monique, I thought maybe Monique was the child that Evelyn said she "aborted" in Mexico but the timeline didn't work out. I kept looking for something else but it wasn't the fact that Harry was dating her father. A good twist. I don't think the author gave enough time for Monique or us the readers to incorporate that before ending the book. I think part of this is that Evelyn's story really does overshadow Monique's. I found it hard to care about her separation/divorce or her professional goals. I think the weakest parts of the book were the sections where Monique is talking herself up to being assertive. Not because I don't relate but that it took time away from Evelyn's much more compelling narrative.

The book very early called out how Evelyn was going to die what with all the times Monique's assisted suicide article is mentioned.

Thoughts are a little scattered, sorry. Hope some people find them useful. I really enjoyed this book. A great start to 2023's book club!

 

[Violentvixen]

Finished it. Loved it.

Potential unpopular opinion time: I thought Celia was obnoxious, whiny, controlling and maybe even a little bit dumb. She's a well-written character and I absolutely get their relationship and their love was powerful or whatever, but oh boy I wouldn't go near that no thank you.

I assume everyone had Harry as the favorite husband

Honestly I kind of liked Rex the most. Just something hilariously mundane and transactional about it while at the same time they still were good partners and co-conspirators. I loved that they toasted their divorce with martinis for a well-executed plot. Also I think I've known too many gay people who had fake marriages to present as straight so it's always sad to me, even though it was arguably the happiest time for them.

The book very early called out how Evelyn was going to die what with all the times Monique's assisted suicide article is mentioned.

This was a part of the book I thought hit foreshadowing a bit too hard and made the characters seem blind to the obvious, there were multiple times I was rolling my eyes when Frankie and Monique mentioned that article then seemed to just completely miss the connection. Didn't affect my enjoyment of the book but I honestly wonder if there was a draft where they did pick up on that and then it was edited out later or something.

I found it hard to care about her separation/divorce or her professional goals.

I liked that it showed her growth though. Early in the book she's fretting over stuff and paralyzed about what to do, but then when David shows up she has him out the door in something like three pages? It's impressive. And I'm glad she got her coffee table back, what a dick.

Here's a question for people who have finished the book (seriously big spoiler): Do you think Monique should tell her mom about her dad's relationship? I can't decide. Right after she read the letter I was 100% in favor of giving it to her mom, because I thought learning the truth would be important and hearing he decided to stay with them would be important to her mom. But after her mom's conversation about the nature of their relationship and what worked for the two of them I was less sure. Curious what other people think.

 

[Falselogic]

This is why I thought the book should go on a little longer. I feel like the author bailed on the reader right when we needed them most!

My personal theory (again spoilers for those who haven't finished) is that the mom knows already. That Monique and her mom are lying to each other about the truth in a misguided attempt to protect the each other. I think one of the big subtexts in this book is that the truth is something that could and would have freed so many of the characters and yet none of them ever seem to learn it. We see this trend continuing with Monique and her mom. Both of them would be happier, and I think better off if they told each other the truth as they know it but they're both being so busy trying to protect the other that their only hurting each other

 

[Olli]

I did get started with the book! So far I'm enjoying it, even though the introduction of a bunch of imaginary world-famous Hollywood personalities felt a little jarring.

 

[Violentvixen]

My personal theory (again spoilers for those who haven't finished) is that the mom knows already.

Oh dang that didn't even occur to me.

I kind of like that it ended without resolving it, but absolutely understand why you'd want it cleared up.

 

[Falselogic]

I did get started with the book! So far I'm enjoying it, even though the introduction of a bunch of imaginary world-famous Hollywood personalities felt a little jarring.

it certainly is!

 

[Positronic Brain]

I'm at Husband #4, but I gotta say that the chapter where Evelyn narrates how she reeled in Husband #3 could have been a self-contained short story. That chapter blew me away.

 

[Rascally Badger]

So I got this in the mail yesterday and read the first few chapters, to the start of her first husband. I enjoyed it. I like old Hollywood stories, but I don't tend to seek the out really. However, the time period and confluence of interests tend to work for me.

Today I took a break from trial prep and read the rest of the novel. I liked it a lot. I am going to take a little more time to let it settle and post some detailed thoughts. I did think it kind of skimped on certain parts of the story that felt like the should have been detailed. Like Evelyn relationship with her daughter. Compared to how well the fleshed even minor characters, Conner ended up feeling like a non-entity to me.

 

[John]

Finished it today, agree with most people on their takes. I enjoyed the twist within twist of Monique's dad's connection being the true reason for reaching out, and not the obvious cherry on top of the right-to-die article. I didn't see it coming, but I almost never do unless it's super foreshadowed. I knew it was something more personal than just "I'm going to commit suicide right after we're done talking, which is why you'll hate me by the end".

As for Monique talking to Mom about her dad, absolutely she should. I agree with False that her mom already knew, or at least suspected that he was gay. I took her confession of a lack of passion to mean a sexless marriage, but not an unhappy one. I hope that Monique talks about it before writing it into the book, so that she doesn't fall into the same trap that Evelyn did with Celia and the sex scene.

The book's thesis felt to be pointing out that surface reads of people are never correct, and everyone is messier and more complicated than their public personas. The only person that Evelyn thought could do no wrong was her own mother, and because she died when Evelyn was 11, she never found out any other truths that would mar her opinion, or at least that's what she relayed to Monique.

That brings up another point, do we feel that Evelyn is a reliable narrator here? She didn't seem to paint things in a glamorous light for herself, and she was actively confessing to doing hurtful things in order to meet her goals of love/power/money. We don't have reliable written accounts to compare, and everyone involved in the story is dead, so it just comes down to a gut feeling. I see her as too pragmatic to want to act the martyr, so I say it's mostly true, though exact conversations were embellished, because who can remember explicitly what someone talked about at dinner last night, let alone sixty years in the past.

 

[Violentvixen]

Like Evelyn relationship with her daughter. Compared to how well the fleshed even minor characters, Conner ended up feeling like a non-entity to me.

The book's thesis felt to be pointing out that surface reads of people are never correct, and everyone is messier and more complicated than their public personas. The only person that Evelyn thought could do no wrong was her own mother, and because she died when Evelyn was 11, she never found out any other truths that would mar her opinion, or at least that's what she relayed to Monique.

That brings up another point, do we feel that Evelyn is a reliable narrator here? She didn't seem to paint things in a glamorous light for herself, and she was actively confessing to doing hurtful things in order to meet her goals of love/power/money. We don't have reliable written accounts to compare, and everyone involved in the story is dead, so it just comes down to a gut feeling. I see her as too pragmatic to want to act the martyr, so I say it's mostly true, though exact conversations were embellished, because who can remember explicitly what someone talked about at dinner last night, let alone sixty years in the past.

I feel like these two are related in a complicated fashion. Connor (despite having her druggie phase) isn't who Evelyn wants to tell people about with this book and she loved her intensely and wants to continue protecting her. I felt like a lot of that omission was intentional. Arguably Connor is driving the events of the whole novel, as her death by breast cancer is spurring the sale of the dresses and is the driver for Evelyn ending everything.

Reliability though, that's tough because:

I gotta say that the chapter where Evelyn narrates how she reeled in Husband #3 could have been a self-contained short story. That chapter blew me away.

If she's that brilliantly manipulative she could say just about anything. I do believe her though. I think it's far more interesting to have her just say fuck it and reveal everything than to be making up a lot, and even though the newspaper articles were often there to support the intentionally false story, they're still supporting documentation of some kind. It's a good question.

 

[John]

I was thinking about Evelyn’s suicide, and wondering if it was another instance of her being cruel to another person in order to secure her own goals. She all but told Monique that she was going to kill herself soon, and made it her problem to deal with. She could try to stop her himself, could call the cops, could go to her apartment and hold her hand, etc. None of these things are appropriate to lay onto someone who you’ve known for a week, much less someone who you just told you were directly involved in a horrible scandal involving your father, forcing you to reframe not just his memory, but your relationship with your mom, and your own identity.

Right now, I’m in the “Evelyn’s a bad person who brought most of her problems down on herself” camp.

 

[Olli]

Finished it! I mostly enjoyed it, even though the whole felt a bit light; especially the last quarter or so could have used a bit more meat on the bones. I see this mostly as a lapse in the editing process, but what do I know, I'm not a writer or an editor. Anyway, I wouldn't have minded if we had learned if Monique decided to share the story of her father with her mom. I'm also in the boat that her mom probably at the very least suspected and quite likely knew that her husband was bi. Given how close Harry's relationship was with Monique's dad, it would be weird if dad's best friend wouldn't even suspect something. As for Evelyn herself: Was she a reliable narrator? Well, she was a self-confessed lifelong liar and master manipulator, but she lacked any clear motivation to lie in the end. Like she said, everyone she had loved had already passed away, and she was about to die right after, so she didn't need to protect anyone any longer. The only one who she still wanted to influence was Monique, but she managed that by timing her final revelation. The story itself didn't make her look particularly good or any more like a victim than most others involved. I don't think Evelyn was a particularly bad person, either; she was driven to succeed in a world that was set up for her failure. That drive made her do some bad decisions, but they were mistakes made in the moment. Maybe she could have used her fame to make the world a better place for queer people, but she chose to use her wealth for that instead, which might have been more effective anyway - who knows.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I couldn't sleep last night, so I ended up reading pretty much the whole thing until I finished at 6 am. More thoughts on a day when I'm fully functional, but I really liked it.

 

[Positronic Brain]

I finished it and I liked it a lot.

I really liked the character of Evelyn Hugo, yes, she was manipulative and flawed, but also very human. And while I agree Celia's character is a bit maddening - hello, self-sabotaging insecurities - I do like that Evelyn makes no apologies for it. And I can empathize with that, you love who you love, even if their defects can drive you up a wall.

I do think Evelyn was being sincere in her memories - nothing left to lose - and thet Connor being a non-presence is on purpose, as Eveln is, even after all these years, still protecting and keeping her daughter out of the limelights.

I saw the twist coming. I was on the lookout for any character Evelyn interacted with because I was sure she had harmed the narrator's family somehow... so when Harry's lover went unnamed and undescribed my plot-sense went nuts. I do think it's an interesting twist, though, revealing something that changes the past and using that to shine light on how we hurt each other by trying to keep us safe. I do think the author took the safe way out by not having the narrator commit to either revealing or hiding this truth from her mother, but I think that's more interesting because having us meditate on what we think the narrator will do reveal a part of ourselves.

One question -that quote that we get from Evelyn at the end, "Wait until they know about my wife"... Is not in the book. She never refers to Celia as her wife before their wedding, and while in the metanarrative I get why (to keep us guessing if they reconcile at the end) I wonder what this says in-universe. Did we get a very abbreviated recounting of Monique's conversations with Evelyn during the books or is Monique taking some artistic license on her retelling?

 

[Violentvixen]

One question -that quote that we get from Evelyn at the end, "Wait until they know about my wife"... Is not in the book. She never refers to Celia as her wife before their wedding, and while in the metanarrative I get why (to keep us guessing if they reconcile at the end) I wonder what this says in-universe. Did we get a very abbreviated recounting of Monique's conversations with Evelyn during the books or is Monique taking some artistic license on her retelling?

I'm not sure if I'm following your question here. Are you thinking that the book we're reading is the book Monique published? I'm not sure if that's really much of a spoiler since it's in the blurb for the book but might as well.

 

[Paul le Fou]

One question -that quote that we get from Evelyn at the end, "Wait until they know about my wife"... Is not in the book. She never refers to Celia as her wife before their wedding, and while in the metanarrative I get why (to keep us guessing if they reconcile at the end) I wonder what this says in-universe. Did we get a very abbreviated recounting of Monique's conversations with Evelyn during the books or is Monique taking some artistic license on her retelling?

I see what you're saying, but my read on that was that it was something Evelyn said at a point we just didn't see recounted during the main book. I dunno if that opens any cans of worms about incomplete information in the telling; I don't personally think it does.

 

[Violentvixen]

I got my Goodreads summary for the year and had to highlight the popularity of this book. Five million is bonkers, but well-deserved, this is one of the best things I read last year and in recent years overall.

And poor beer guide I picked up in Japan, lol.