A review by fieldofhats
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
“This is something that everyone should know about stars. We like to be told we are adored. And we want you to repeat yourself.”
I got 3.5 hours into the 12 hour audiobook and couldn’t force myself to go any further. It pains me to DNF a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, but it pains me even more to give it one star. In all fairness, my true rating might be more like 1.5 stars, but it didn’t think it really deserved to be rounded up.
Let’s start with the good, if only because there’s so little of it. The story is split into two very distinct plot lines: Monique and Evelyn. We see much more of Evelyn, but Monique is the main character, or at least the one we see the modern world through. Her story is much more interesting. She has hardships and problems, and because she’s a normal person living in the normal world, they feel much more genuine. I was much more invested in her story than in Evelyn’s, and in a book that’s titled “The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo”, I feel like that’s an issue.
The drama is good. The troubles and hardships that Evelyn endured and eventually got through are universal and painful, but also particularly feminine issues, which makes this an undeniably feminist piece — the problem is, she’s a rich, powerful, Hollywood star. I have a much, much harder time relating to and sympathizing with a rich star than a common person. All of the things that Evelyn goes through, lower class people (like Monique, for example) also go through. Having the main character be a rich star just dampens and cheapens the story. Celebrity feminism is antithetical to feminism.
Furthermore, Evelyn is not a good person. Because she’s spent most of her life in Hollywood, she has this heightened sense of entitlement that I just have no respect for. She’s also manipulative; she guilts and practically bribes Monique into taking the biography job and admits that she’s okay with (and does) use people when it’s advantageous for her. She will also do absolutely anything to save her image. And maybe I could get behind that if she wasn’t either rich or a Hollywood star, but she is. Even if her image is destroyed, she’ll be absolutely fine, so I don’t have much sympathy for her. To properly enjoy a novel I have to like the main character on some level, and so this was a huge blow for me.
Yes, she is a powerful woman, and that image can hold a lot of weight regardless of anything. But when we sacrifice integrity and decency for power, we’re left with an awful character. I wish we could portray powerful women without them being rich and manipulative.
I got 3.5 hours into the 12 hour audiobook and couldn’t force myself to go any further. It pains me to DNF a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, but it pains me even more to give it one star. In all fairness, my true rating might be more like 1.5 stars, but it didn’t think it really deserved to be rounded up.
Let’s start with the good, if only because there’s so little of it. The story is split into two very distinct plot lines: Monique and Evelyn. We see much more of Evelyn, but Monique is the main character, or at least the one we see the modern world through. Her story is much more interesting. She has hardships and problems, and because she’s a normal person living in the normal world, they feel much more genuine. I was much more invested in her story than in Evelyn’s, and in a book that’s titled “The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo”, I feel like that’s an issue.
The drama is good. The troubles and hardships that Evelyn endured and eventually got through are universal and painful, but also particularly feminine issues, which makes this an undeniably feminist piece — the problem is, she’s a rich, powerful, Hollywood star. I have a much, much harder time relating to and sympathizing with a rich star than a common person. All of the things that Evelyn goes through, lower class people (like Monique, for example) also go through. Having the main character be a rich star just dampens and cheapens the story. Celebrity feminism is antithetical to feminism.
Furthermore, Evelyn is not a good person. Because she’s spent most of her life in Hollywood, she has this heightened sense of entitlement that I just have no respect for. She’s also manipulative; she guilts and practically bribes Monique into taking the biography job and admits that she’s okay with (and does) use people when it’s advantageous for her. She will also do absolutely anything to save her image. And maybe I could get behind that if she wasn’t either rich or a Hollywood star, but she is. Even if her image is destroyed, she’ll be absolutely fine, so I don’t have much sympathy for her. To properly enjoy a novel I have to like the main character on some level, and so this was a huge blow for me.
Yes, she is a powerful woman, and that image can hold a lot of weight regardless of anything. But when we sacrifice integrity and decency for power, we’re left with an awful character. I wish we could portray powerful women without them being rich and manipulative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Misogyny