The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
I loved this book so much. I'd been intrigued by it since I first heard of it and every new thing I learned just made me want to read it more. So I convinced my book club to give it a go, and I'm so glad I did. I read it in two days, because I just couldn't put it down.
Evelyn is a wonderful character. She's ruthless and manipulative and mostly unapologetic about it. After all, she got everything she ever wanted, didn't she? Why change a thing when she was met with so much success? And if that success was swathed in scandal? Well that just makes it more fun.
I was surprised by the variation in her many marriages. She married for all sorts of reasons: to get to Hollywood, for love, for family, to further her career, to distract from an entirely different scandal. Some of her marriages were complete shams, but others had a surprising amount of honesty and affection at their core. I think Evelyn experienced just about every kind of love there is over the course of her life, so why regret it?
But even more exciting was the real reason for all those marriages: Evelyn's secret lover. Women couldn't love women in mid-century Hollywood. Not if they wanted any sort of career or even basic safety. Reading about the push and pull between Evelyn and Celia was endlessly interesting. I loved how hard they worked to be together and how they kept fighting for each other. And I loved how different they were. Evelyn's ruthless opportunism is well-matched with Celia's naive idealism, and the two of them ultimately end up balancing each other well.
This was a fascinating story about the sacrifices we make and whether those sacrifices are worth it. I'll definitely have to read more by this author (her newest book is getting similarly rave reviews).
Evelyn is a wonderful character. She's ruthless and manipulative and mostly unapologetic about it. After all, she got everything she ever wanted, didn't she? Why change a thing when she was met with so much success? And if that success was swathed in scandal? Well that just makes it more fun.
I was surprised by the variation in her many marriages. She married for all sorts of reasons: to get to Hollywood, for love, for family, to further her career, to distract from an entirely different scandal. Some of her marriages were complete shams, but others had a surprising amount of honesty and affection at their core. I think Evelyn experienced just about every kind of love there is over the course of her life, so why regret it?
But even more exciting was the real reason for all those marriages: Evelyn's secret lover. Women couldn't love women in mid-century Hollywood. Not if they wanted any sort of career or even basic safety. Reading about the push and pull between Evelyn and Celia was endlessly interesting. I loved how hard they worked to be together and how they kept fighting for each other. And I loved how different they were. Evelyn's ruthless opportunism is well-matched with Celia's naive idealism, and the two of them ultimately end up balancing each other well.
This was a fascinating story about the sacrifices we make and whether those sacrifices are worth it. I'll definitely have to read more by this author (her newest book is getting similarly rave reviews).
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