Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo immerses readers in the world of Hollywood’s Golden Age, where fame, fortune, and beauty often served as masks that covered deeper truths, truths of love, betrayal, and identity. Beneath the glamor and the glittering facade, this is a novel about the sacrifices women make to gain power, survive, and define themselves. At the heart of the story is Evelyn Hugo, an iconic, complex, Hollywood star, and her story is framed as a recounting of her life told through an interview with journalist Monique Grant, who wishes to jump-start her career.
Evelyn is a living paradox: she is ruthless and calculating, yet vulnerable and deeply human. Through her interviews, we see her marriages not as a series of relationships but rather as carefully constructed chapters of her survival—each marriage represents a stage in her quest for love and power over her own life and her own narrative.
We’re deceived and taught to see Evelyn as a star, but underneath, she is a woman haunted by her choices, constantly trying to reconcile the lies she told with the truth of who she really is: “It’s always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly.”
Reid challenges the concept of truth: Hollywood is a world built on illusions, where public personas are as carefully crafted as film scripts and public images are based on lies. Evelyn’s story becomes so much more than a story of a woman who had seven husbands: it becomes the story of a woman who had to reinvent herself repeatedly through each marriage, a woman who had to construct her persona in a world that demanded her to be a star. This leaves her constantly scavenging for truth in a life that had been fabricated for the sake of survival and success.
At the heart of the narrative is the universal human desire for a true identity and control over it. Evelyn’s struggles to define herself amidst the demands of Hollywood and the audience, reflecting an internal battle that many face throughout their lives. In a world that constantly changes you,softens you up to push you into a mold and reshape you, how do you keep the truth of who you are intact? High school is a time when so many of us feel the pressure to become something we’re not in order to belong: we create versions of ourselves to fit into society’s expectations, telling ourselves and others lies to avoid confronting the truths of our choices. We’re very fortunate at Lexington High School to have so many clubs, each a welcoming community of their own. That being said, you should find a club, a group of people who you truly resonate and connect with – and if you haven’t found that community yet, make your own. Never conform to what society expects of you. Reid’s portrayal of Evelyn reminds us that while fame and glamour shine brightly, it is often our hidden truths – those unspeakable parts we bury in the darkest corners – that shape our lives the most.
Evelyn’s life is a tapestry woven with glamour, dark secrets, and sacrifices; her journey is a reminder that sometimes, the greatest acts of survival are those we undertake in quiet moments of reflection between dusk and twilight, when the world isn’t looking.