I was intrigued when I first saw this book and I read it without any other information except that it’s about Evelyn Hugo, a Hollywood star, married seven times. But after reading it, there was so much more about Evelyn Hugo.
The author introduces to us the aging Evelyn Hugo who is now finally ready to tell the truth about her life, if and only if, the unknown reporter named Monique from Vivant will write her story. Everyone was baffled, why Monique? Why tell her story just now?
Evelyn and Monique soon started working with her story. Evelyn started from nothing but clawed her way to the top of Hollywood along with her seven marriages. As she tells her story, each of the marriages were discussed where we gradually understand Evelyn more. I think she is one of the most iconic characters I have read about. Sometimes I forget she’s fictional. Her story shows the struggle of women way back in the 1950s-1960s though they seem to appear like they’re the ones calling the shots. How sexual preferences wasn’t as open as it is now, how some are looked down upon. It also tells about how it was like then for a woman from a mixed race living in a white woman’s world. Layers upon layers of information were revealed in every chapter, it’s just incredible. Moreover, Monique’s story was a great addition in between Evelyn’s Hollywood drama.
This is my first read from Taylor Jenkins Reid. I wanted to read Daisy Jones and The Six last year but still haven’t gotten into it yet but now that I’ve had my first Reid experience, I am surely going to read it soon. Her writing is beautiful, I liked it a lot. She truly gave life to Evelyn Hugo’s character. She’s actually very good in characterization. All the other characters were also notable.
Read this if you haven’t yet.
Quotable Quotes:
“I’m under absolutely no obligation to make sense to you.”
“Never let anyone make you feel ordinary.”
“Don’t ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box. Don’t do that.”
“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.”
“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is ‘you’re safe with me’- that’s intimacy.”
HappymessHappiness 