Evelyn Hugo, a fake Celebrity in everyone’s hearts - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Tiktok and instagram have bombarded me with this book. I ended up accepting my fate and I bought the book. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has been a new modern classic in my little library since I finished reading it. It has captured my heart like many others before me and I can’t wait to share how I feel about Evelyn on this article.
Evelyn Hugo is a well-known celebrity in this world where our narrator lives. She gets to interview her and write her biography but, she can only release it once Evelyn dies. This book is not a love story for me it is rather a mystery where we find out why Monique, this young journalist, gets to be the one to write Evelyn Hugo. But the real mystery lies in front of our eyes; we have to find out who the real villain in Evelyn life is. We read Evelyn’s life story only to find out that she is the real villain in her own story. Taylor Jenkins Reid is true mystery writer. The clues lie in front of us when we read but the real truth is only revealed at the end.
We go through Evelyn Hugo’s life through the timeline of her husbands. We get to find out who the love of her life was and the reasons for all her dramas. The writing if full of emotion and it fast paced which leaves you with hunger after every word. We connect with the characters and we fall in love with her life stories as time goes own. This book explores themes of growing up, family and love through the lenses of one single person and we can’t seem to get enough of this fake celebrity.
Further on we read about other themes such as sexism, homophobia and domestic abuse. We get to see this through Evelyn, a strong woman who has to go through the prejudice of the whole world, which is a great example of what woman in her industry, and many others, have to go through every day.
The praise in this book is endless but I must say that it is not perfect. Even though I have enjoyed this book and I will continue to recommend it, I do have to say that some parts were less exciting than I expected. Taylor Jenkins Reid is exceedingly good at story telling but in some parts specially towards the start and the ending, I felt like there were some plot holes I couldn’t ignore. The start for me was dreadful and the ending felt uncohesive.
This book will now be a classic read that I will recommend to whoever loves to read. Taylor Jenkins Reid has been a new discovery and I can’t wait to see what her journey will bring.