Warning, this blurb contains spoilers.
I have long considered myself an advocate of the LGBT+ community. I’m not the best versed on all the intricate struggles they share but, I believe we as humans have a right to live, love and be defined as we see fit. So i support them regardless of the cause. That being said, I seldom read any of the works published by people from that community, I’m not the most well versed on the experiences celebrities in their community face. I recall the big scandal with Rock Hudson revealing he was gay, I recall the Stonewall riots of the 80s but as I am not a part of the world being persecuted for my sexual proclivities I am safely unaware of how incredibly lonely the life of a closeted celebrity must be.
I don’t frequently interrupt my reading of a book to write a think piece or a blurb on the story but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, is shaping up to be such a revealing read, I found myself wondering what inspired such a body of work. So far I am in love with the character of Evelyn, she isn’t polished or prim. She makes it clear that she was ruthless, used her body to negotiate life on her terms and held in her truth for decades in pursuit of achieving and maintaining her fame. She lays it all bear in her golden years; having made her choices and been forced to live with them, she recounts how she became the Mrs. to seven not always eligible bachelors and the one true love that never left her heart.
As the story unfurls it turns into less a story about the salacious failed marriages of a Hollywood icon and more about the unburdening of secrets and souls. Evelyn reveals not only her truth, but the truth of her friends, her husbands and Hollywood as a whole during that time. Each time we watch her scratch her way back to the top, we see just how resilient she is while also maintaining a bit of the grittiness and desperation we’ve come to love about her. Her character is one of strength while also being one of extreme weakness. Evelyn manages to stand in power in her womanhood. She uses her femininity as a weapon to get her what she needs and secure her place, but that woman is not the whole truth of her. Evelyn is unable to stand strong in her truth, we see glimpses of her trying to reclaim that power. A comment there, a glance here, even the very book she is using to reveal herself to the world is done retroactively. The arrangement that Monique finds herself in is that she is allowed to publish the book posthumously. So even in her golden years, Evelyn is too much of a coward to stand in her absolute truth. It is this that makes me pity her.
I find myself often wondering what she will do next? As well as what the huge secret that will cause Monique and presumably the audience to hate her. If revealing that most of her marriages were of convenience, for publicity or to hide her secrets, didn’ t enrage us, I can’t fathom what could. I seldom read reviews on books i’m reading but I’m going to the comments section as soon as I finish! The only thing left I can think of is that she hid a pregnancy, but even in that I’m unsure because Evelyn has already revealed her abortion as well as the HOW of how her daughter was conceived. Obviously by the posts title, some if not all of the characters are revealed to be members of our rainbow coalition by Chapters 48, but even that isn’t the dark cloud. I’m dying to know what Evelyn has said or done that will leave us all, aghast, jaws dragging the floor.
and so we read on, my loves.
Blu Moon Fiction 