Who Cares About the Husbands When You Have Celia St. James?

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Started: November 6, 2021

Finished: November 9, 2021

Rate: ★★★★.5

Synopsis

• Big Hollywood star from the 50s-70s, Evelyn Hugo decides to sit in with a journalist named Monique for a tell-all interview about her life

  • Evelyn is known for marrying seven times, each marriage having a unique story

  • Husbands

    • Ernie Diaz

    • Don Adler

    • Mick Riva

    • Rex

    • Harry

    • Max Girard

    • Robert Jamison

Review

Plot

Overall, it was a good book. I know that small sentence does not give a great representation of how I felt about it, but if I were to describe the book it would just be...good. To be fair, I heard a lot of good things about it on TikTok, so again, my expectations were a little high. Maybe I should just stop getting books from BooTok to lower my expectations… I also expected to cry in the book (and I did not) so that was a little disappointing. I heard about people being completely broken after reading the book too, but I feel fine? Like it was not all life-changing (some parts were eye-opening, more on that in the next paragraph) so the book did not have a huge impact as I expected.

I think Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing is amazing and the way she paints the picture of each scene in her novel is breathtaking; you feel immersed into the story without realizing it and you form bonds with these characters that only exist within these pages, making you feel a little crazy but warm inside. Everything felt real and you think back to how these things could have possibly happened in Hollywood. There were moments in the book when they kept mentioning Little Women, I had to stop myself from thinking, “Oh yeah, that happened for sure” and remind myself that none of it ever existed in real life.

Characters

Evelyn Hugo. My oh my. She was a confusing character for me because typically in books, I either am rooting for a character or hate them all together, but with her, I kept switching sides.

I grew to love and hate Evelyn throughout the book. She has her moments of being a badass and putting everything on the line for her career. But there are some moments where I was like “oh no honey. That’s a big fuck up, don’t do that”, especially her relationship with Celia. She was a very complicated woman who had prioritized the wrong things in life. But I found it nice to read how she purposefully made it clear in the interview how she wants people to know that she was not all perfect and made mistakes

"I'm not a good person, Monique. Make sure in the book, that's clear. that I'm not claiming to be good. That I did a lot of things that hurt a lot of people, and I would do them over again if I had to"

I found it refreshing to read how she acknowledges that she can easily be seen as a villain in her own story; it adds depth not only to her character but to the plotline itself of how everything can never be seen in black and white, hero and villain. Her confession also emphasizes the transparency and the authenticity of the interview.

Celia St. James. It’s funny looking back now because while the book was popular on TikTok, I tried my best to avoid any kind of spoilers. So when I was first bookmarking the book, all the Celia scenes with Evelyn I marked with yellow for friendship. And boy, did I get a good twist in the book. I saw their relationship coming from a mile away, but I also didn’t because I thought it would just be one of those things where the author hints towards Evelyn's sexuality without confirming it, but man I am so glad TJR did that with Celia and Evelyn. I was a lot more interested in their relationship than any of the other husbands; everyone else was dead to me (except the one and only Harry Cameron). They were the couple that made me feel all gushy and screaming at the book for them to get back together. Oh and the chipped tooth. The chipped tooth. I had to take a moment with that scene when Celia mentioned that in her Oscar speech a whole decade after their break up. Definitely one of my favorite moments in the book.

Harry Cameron--the best husband of Evelyn, hands down. I think anyone who reads the book can agree with that statement. He was just someone that was made for Evelyn, in the most platonic way possible. He made it clear how important she was to him and how their relationship can defy anything. His relationship with Evelyn made me realize how relationships and soulmates don’t always have to be sexual as platonic relationships can be just as strong. I loved them together and loved him separately.

[SPOILER] But, his death did not make me cry. Don’t get me wrong, I grew very attached to him throughout the book and I knew that he was going to die eventually, but his death didn’t obliterate me like some people. It was a sad moment, yes, I even had to take a moment after reading who was behind the wheel and how their car was wrapped around a tree. But I knew he was going to die eventually and I knew that with his importance in the book, he was going to make a grand exit too. However, I did NOT expect the guy in the car with Harry to be Monique’s dad. Now that was a twist. But Harry again, while indirectly this time, proved how relationships (with Monique’s parents) can be just as strong as sexual relationships if they were only considered platonic.[SPOILER]

[special mention] Don Adler. Don FUCKING Adler. FUCK HIM. WORST HUSBAND FOR SURE. HE CAN GO BURN IN HELL. I know that he had a little redemption arc towards the end but I was not buying it. HIS DECISION TO HAVE EVELYN BE BLACKBALLED IN HOLLYWOOD AND STILL CONTINUE TO ABUSE RUBY? I don’t think so. TRASH. TRASH. TRASH.

Last Thoughts, Parting Words

It was a great book, I think the best fiction book I have read so far. Competing with Malibu Rising, I like this book a lot more. I might buy TJR’s other book Daisy Jones and the Six but I am on the fence about it. I like her writing style, but it just did not hit out of the ballpark as much as I expected it to. I will, however, be picking up this book from time to time to look over my bookmarked pages to FEEL something because I bookmarked A LOT in this novel. I’m glad I got to read it and see what all the hype was about. I think that if I didn’t have such high expectations for it, I would have enjoyed it a little bit more. Nonetheless, it was a great book and I would recommend it to someone who wants to get out of a reading slump.

Bonus: Game Time (Taylor's Version)

This book is the perfect book to play the game of "Which Taylor Swift Song Best Fits this Book?"

Obviously The Lucky One. The whole song represents Evelyn's life in Hollywood and her whole story.

It relates to her so much that f you don’t want to read the book, just listen to the song.

Wildest Dreams is also another song that represents Evelyn's relationship with Celia.

Extra: From All Too Well (10 Min Version) (Taylor's Version) the lyric:

"You kept my like a secret but I kept you like an oath"

is Celia to Evelyn. Ugh, love them and their relationship.