Friday, 8 May 2020
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid | Review
Erin was right, The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is a great read.
In 2019, Erin reviewed The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, and I have to admit, while I enjoyed reading the review, as I do all our reviews, I didn't think I'd ever pick up this book. Historical fiction isn't a genre I usually spend much time in (unless it's YA historical fiction), nor is the adult genre in general. I'm definitely a Young Adults sort of reader, with a love for fantasy, too. But not general/contemporary adult fiction.
But then our Blogger's Bookshelf book club theme for May is 'a book with a number in the title' and I didn't have any books on my shelves that met the criteria that I hadn't already read. 'Perhaps it's time', I thought. 'Time to give Evelyn a chance.' I'm so glad I did.
You can head back over to Erin's review to find out a little more about the book, as I don't want to repeat things. But I did just want to make a few comments.
“Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.”
Like I said, I'm not a big reader of the genres this book fits into usually, but from the first pages I was drawn into the story. In fact I actually started this book before the book club for May began (oops shh), and I did so accidentally. I had it on my Kindle and clicked open the first page and read it ... and found it very hard to put down. There were many nights in a row where I read for too long and spent too much time in the story.
For the most part, The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is a classic Hollywood tale, one you'd definitely see on the big screen. A beautiful girl wanting to be big in the film industry, does whatever she can to get there, even if that includes lying, cheating, sleeping, and marrying her way to the top. She makes it, of course she does, because she's strong and determined and passionate about chasing her dreams. But at what cost?
It was quite different to what I was expecting - although if you asked me what I was expecting, I don't think I could give you an answer - but it was captivating and heartbreaking all the same. While there was an ongoing question throughout the tale, I knew what it was going to be before it was revealed in the last few pages, and knew the answer from the moment a key character was introduced. Nevertheless it was still stunningly done, and I have to commend Reid on her writing and storytelling.
What I found most captivating about this book, and Erin mentions it in her review too, was the characters. Reid has this way of writing her characters with such depth it's like they were actually real people. While many characters were uncomfortable and unlikable, there were some that I really enjoyed reading about ... which of course made it all the more heart wrenching when those characters were ripped away. (If that seems like a spoiler, it's not really. The book covers Evelyn's entire life from when she was a young girl to the moment she employs a writer for her biography - it's a 70 something year timeline, people are going to die.)
In case it wasn't clear from the beginning, I really enjoyed The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, so much so that I'm going to check out some of Taylor Jenkins Reid's other books. Luckily, Daisy Jones and the Six has a number in it too, so I might just read another for book club!
Have you read The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo? What did you think?
