“So, puzzling turn of events,” she says, looking at her computer. “Evelyn Hugo’s people are inquiring about a feature. An exclusive interview.”
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by
Monique Grant, a very young reporter working in an obscure indy magazine, has landed an extraordinary and unparalleled interview with Hollywood Legend Evelyn Hugo. Hugo is one of the last of the Golden Age Silver Screen Doyennes. So it is highly unusual for someone of Hugo’s caliber to have known of the magazine’s existence let alone Monique’s. Monique could do nothing but agree to such an unprecedented request. When she reports in, Monique is party to the most intimate secrets of Evelyn’s life told episodically through relations with the seven titular husbands. Some were great marriages falling apart because of apathy, others because of scandal. Monique is also party to the friendships (one extraordinarily close) and career highs and lows that Evelyn had throughout the course of her storied life. Through this, Monique learns the reason why Evelyn handpicked her, and the reason will change her life forever.
This book is a sudsy read. So good for a beachy read during summer. You really get the feel for the glitz and glam of Old Hollywood through this novel. Even some of the aspects and relations of Evelyn’s life have some parallels to the real Old Hollywood era, from the extraordinary number of marriages that Liz Taylor had, to the cheating relationship of Jose Ferrer and Rosie Clooney. The only fault I can find through the book is that there should have been more real Hollywood star name dropping. It felt really unrealistic to not have Marilyn (and her tragic demise) mentioned at all or even ole’ Liz herself, or any mention about the growing ties between Hollywood and Washington at the time. Therefore, though it is really obvious that Jenkins Reid wanted to create a book that felt like it was encapsulating the "real Old Hollywood", it felt fictional because no real Hollywood names were mentioned, including Studio names. There was no MGM or Warner Bros. So it felt like a parallel world, which made it feel false. But I consider myself an Old Hollywood aficionado (see last December’s book recommendation for proof), so this would really, honestly bother me.
Otherwise, if you want a great sudsy read, this is perfect.
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