Evelyn Hugo, the world-famous starlet who made it from nothing, sheds the glitz and glam of Hollywood to reveal Evelyn Ferrara, the woman with seven husbands and only one true love (and a hidden ethnicity).
Taylor Jenkins Reid has created an amazingly fast-paced story that leaves you wanting more and more after each chapter. Simply put, it's a good old Hollywood scandal, except this time, it’s told from the woman’s point of view.
We are introduced to Monique Grant, a relatively unknown magazine reporter, who is dealing with plenty of turmoil in her own life when she is solicited by “the” Evelyn Hugo to write a tell-all memoir detailing all the scandals and vices in her oscillating reign as queen of the cinema industry. Day after day, Monique visits Evelyn at her New York mansion, and we uncover yet another chapter of her tumultuous life. Turns out seven husbands don’t come easy. And true love takes a lot. I mean, if you don’t chip your tooth by kissing the TV while watching your lover accept an award on national television, are you even in love?
As she learns about the difficult choices and sacrifices Evelyn had to make to gain her position on top (and stay on top), Monique learns enough to take some risks in her own professional and personal life. And as she nears the end of her exhilarating journey through Evelyn’s life, she realizes sometimes things aren’t at all what they seem, and opportunities don’t always fall into your lap just because you’re lucky.
Personally, I found this book to be an incredible piece of fiction; one that will leave you star-struck, scandalized, and finally heartbroken for the heroine. The unapologetic way in which Evelyn owns the difficult decisions she had to make during her career, most of which you might end up judging her for, divulges the calculated and business-like side of show business, where marriages are transactions and friends are for photo ops. It gives you an insider's view of Hollywood, where everything isn’t as pretty and the people aren’t as happy as they seem. Reid does a brilliant job of capturing this sentiment, in a way that is alluring even to someone who isn’t intimately connected with the industry. Her heroine is smart and beautiful, defying the dumb blonde stereotype, and relentlessly doing what she needs to advance her career. And of course, there’s an unexpected twist or two; the book is about the film industry after all.
If you’re the kind of person that likes fast-paced fiction, high drama, and a heroine who comes to defy the status quo, you will love this book. Evelyn keeps you on your toes during the entirety of the book, scrambling to take back your judgements after she reveals the reasons behind her actions.
Rating: 4.5/5
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