The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 4****

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 385

Where do I start?

Obviously, the hype surrounding this book had me expecting a literary masterpiece or something. (I will stay away from hyped books in the future).

While I overall enjoyed the book it didn't quite meet my expectations. I thought hard about what exactly bothered me about this book and came to the conclusion that I just couldn't get myself to care about the characters.

I was ready to get lost in the glamour and glitter of those glitzy Hollywood years as I'm a big fan of movies from the 50s and 60s, but unfortunately, I couldn't get the cinematic feel of that era while reading this book.

Where was the reference to the dazzling 50s and the roaring 60s? I couldn't feel any of it. Evelyn's narration of her life at the time flat-lined repeatedly for me. There was almost no description of the small things that makes the reader go, ‘oh I remember that.’ No reference to the music of the 50s or 60s, no big party where we could have gotten a glimpse of the real actors of that time, no reference to what was going on in the world at the time, except for maybe one small paragraph. Nothing to help me visualize it.

I also felt there was no character depth; to be honest, I couldn't tell one husband from the other. No distinct voice distinguished them. I felt that Evelyn’s ‘great love’ was rather manipulative and childish. And don’t’ even get me started on Evelyn, who came across as selfish and shallow.

If it wasn't for the last 60-80 pages I would have given this book less than 4 stars. Fortunately, the intensity of the final chapters made up somewhat for the lack of description and the one-dimensional characters. The ending was very touching and wrapped up everything nicely.

I definitively would recommend everyone to read this book because the premise was undoubtedly original. I may enjoy the movie more if ever someone decides to make it!