Happy Wednesday, reader! It’s FREE-VIEW TIME!! This is your friendly reminder that my Free-view series is always SPOILER-FREE. I encourage you to read the books I discuss yourself and come to your own conclusions.
Going under the knife today is what may be the most polarizing book to hit the court of public opinion in recent years – THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Let me start off by going into detail about why there’s been such a heated debate about this book, if you don’t already know – it’s being adapted into a Netflix movie. I’m partially on board with this; I think this book is worthy of a screen adaptation, sure. But I don’t think a movie is the right choice – a 7-episode limited series would’ve been perfect.
Fan casting for the titular Evelyn Hugo and other main players in the story like Harry Cameron, Monique Grant, and Celia St. James is causing quite a stir. Evelyn is described in the book as being of Cuban descent and having “tan skin”. She also has a slim frame with very large breasts and blonde hair that somehow works on her, even though it looks like it shouldn’t because of the contrast against her skin. The blonde hair was no accident though – it helps her pass as a Caucasian woman despite being Cuban.
Despite this description, there’s still much heated debate about who should be cast as her. One of the names I’ve seen circling around recently is Ana De Armas, who you may know from Knives Out, or the controversial Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde. Despite the fact that De Armas is Cuban, like Evelyn, I personally think she’s too fair-skinned to play Evelyn. But that’s just me. Anyone who’s familiar with the…well…ferocity of internet fanbases knows what kind of war this adaptation has started. But that’s not all.
The entire book revolves around reporter Monique Grant’s interview with golden-era A-list movie star Evelyn Hugo, now an old woman. Monique is personally selected by Evelyn to conduct the interview for a biography, and Monique is the only person she’s willing to speak to about her life. Monique has no idea why, but she’ll find out at the end of the story – and so will you.
At the core of this book lies a romance, perhaps the only true romance that Evelyn ever had, that she kept close to her chest throughout her entire career. The general public didn’t know about it, which means that the story Monique is going to write about Evelyn’s life is going to be laden with revelations and secrets and will probably skyrocket her to fame and fortune. That’s not the important part though – the hush-hush romance is what’s also stoking the fires of the online debate about this book.
It would be a spoiler to tell you who Evelyn was in love with, so I won’t. But I will tell you about the online discourse and how I feel about it. A big focal point of the story is Evelyn’s relationship with this person and how she maneuvered despite the relationship in ways to protect or advance her career. The person Evelyn was in a relationship with desperately wanted to just be with her without strings attached, but Evelyn constantly resisted that, afraid to let her career take a hit. So to me, this debate revolves around two main questions.
- Is Evelyn Hugo a good person?
- Was she the problem in their relationship?
Personally, I don’t think Evelyn is the best person, and I think she caused the majority of the problems in that relationship for her own selfish reasons. But that doesn’t matter. Nor should it. This book is a perfect way for me to explain a concept that I think many modern consumers of fiction seem to forget – PROTAGONISTS SHOULD NOT BE FLAWLESS. A flawed protagonist does not make a book bad, it makes a book interesting.
In recent years, since I’ve become more privy to consuming multiple forms of content and surveying the responses on social media, I’ve noticed something interesting. Lots of people take issue with stories in which the protagonist has palpable flaws. I don’t understand this!! We are all imperfect beings. Believe me, I know that Evelyn Hugo has a long list of cons that may even outweigh her pros.
But think of it this way: if you’re the protagonist of your own story, and people were watching the movie or reading the book of your life, would you be beloved by all the fans? I doubt it. Someone would hate you. Maybe a lot of people would. It’s unrealistic to think that a protagonist needs to be a perfect porcelain being who has no shadow to accompany their light.
I liked this book. I really did. My only gripe would be that the Monique parts really took me out of the immersion. I know they had a purpose, especially in the end (what a plot twist), but I still couldn’t help being bored by her as a device with with we learned our information. Despite this, I really enjoyed the trip we took across Evelyn’s life and the price she was willing to pay for stardom. I think it was a story that may have been true for many stars in the golden era of Hollywood. As I said earlier, I think Evelyn Hugo is a mess, undeniably. She was quite a dynamic protagonist, however, and her story was thrilling; and that’s all I ask for.
THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Rating: 4/5 Stars
readreaming 