This week I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I had a little trepidation because it's so beloved on Tiktok and GoodReads and I tried (twice) and failed to read Reid's other highly popular novel: Daisy Jones and the Six. I am pleased to say I enjoyed this one! I have a lot of feelings about this book and I'm not entirely sure what they are. 😂 I am a character lover. If I love a book it's because I felt for the characters. This book was not that. Evelyn is not very likable, but she's also very magnetic. I think it's really pretty genius of Reid to be able to write in such a way that you're enraptured by a character even if you don't like her or relate to her. This book read like a nice gossip column, but also tackled some pretty big issues.
Evelyn tells her story to a writer named Monique. We get small glimpses into Monique's life. She is going through a divorce and not feeling very fulfilled in her career. Then this amazing offer from Evelyn falls into her lap. Monique becomes more brazen as she spends time with Evelyn. Evelyn encourages Monique to speak to her boss about her feature and "make them pay you what they would pay a white man." (pg 27) Evelyn does have a lot of knowledge to offer since she's fought for everything she's wanted since she was 17. Of her seven husbands my favorites were Rex North and Harry Cameron. Both were career-move marriages, but they were not unhappy ones. Harry was Evelyn's best friend and they have a daughter together.
Harry has my favorite quote from the book on pages 189-190: " 'Isn't if awfully convenient,' Harry added, 'that when men make the rules, the one thing that's looked down on the most is the one thing that would bear them the greatest threat? Imagine if every single woman on the planet wanted something in exchange when she gave up her body. You'd all be ruling the place.' " I tabbed a lot of pages in this book and I think I'll leave all my little flags in when I send it to my best friend to read so she can add her thoughts and notes on as well.
Did this book make me cry? Yes. Am I happy I read it? Also yes. I gave this book a 5/5 because is executed so beautifully and when I finished it I just sat in my room for a while and thought about it. I am not sure what I will read next. My mood keeps changing. 😊
Happy Reading!
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