Sahil Javed's Reviews > The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is truly a well-crafted novel. It follows fictional It girl and actress, Evelyn Hugo, as she finally decides to share her story and the truth behind her many marriages. It blended a vivid character’s struggles and past effortlessly with the main storyline. It is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.

“Never let anyone make you feel ordinary.”

Evelyn Hugo was such a powerful character. The way the author developed her was seamless. She was such a polarising woman and I both liked and disliked her. The way in which her past was told was done cleverly and sophisticatedly and I honestly could not put this book down. Evelyn Hugo is not a perfect person. Hell, she’s not even a good person most of the time. But she was so realistic and the way she was portrayed was really accurate and made me feel so many things towards her: dislike, adoration, sympathy, frustration and most importantly, love. I adored Evelyn Hugo. I think she was a perfect example of how a woman can rise up against injustice and patriarchy and not let that define her journey. One thing I thought was really interesting was the parallel between what the world assumes about a certain celebrity and then the actual truth. When you read what people had to say about Evelyn and her seven husbands, it made her seem a certain way. But then watching her story unfold through her own perspective made me rethink every assumption I had about her from the way she was portrayed by how her society viewed her actions and decisions.

“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.”

I really liked the main narrator, Monique. I thought she was the perfect voice to contrast Evelyn’s and I really like the character development she went through in this book, especially when Evelyn’s life crossed into her own. That was done really well and I did not expect it at all. I think it was a great addition to the storyline and it really helped end the book in the perfect way. I also liked how diverse this book was and how it handled important topics such as divorce, sexuality, love and a woman’s claim to her own body. I think it was done in such a tactful and clever way, to the extent where it makes you feel so many things. I think the way sexuality was handled was done really, really well. There was a scene I really enjoyed between Monique and Evelyn where Evelyn states how she does not want to be labelled and put into a box. And as someone who hates labels and society’s need to define everything, it was a really dynamic scene which sent a really important message out. I felt a great deal of sympathy for Evelyn Hugo and the way things went about in her life. I cried a lot of times reading this book, especially towards the end but it was such an enjoyable experience. This book is now on my favourites list and I am definitely going to be rereading it sometime soon.

“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.”

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a powerful book about a powerful character. It blended romance and sexuality with love and sacrifice and it did it so seamlessly and effortlessly. This is truly an amazing book.