Format in which I consumed this book: hardcover
Did I like it/love it/hate it? Liked it
What’s it about? Evelyn Hugo is a famous actress now in her 80s, I think. She wants to do an interview, rare for her, to promote a charity auction. She contacts a magazine and insists on working with Monique, a journalist who is not well known, and not high enough on the pay scale for Evelyn’s request to make sense.
When Monique meets with Evelyn to begin the interview, it turns out Evelyn actually wants to have a book written, and she wants Monique specifically, to write it. You’re left wondering until the end why Evelyn is insisting on giving this opportunity to Monique only.
The chapters thereafter are Evelyn talking about each man she married, why she married him, and what happened afterward.
My thoughts: I really liked this. Reid did a nice job of hinting at the connection between Monique and Evelyn without completely giving it away. My mom and sister and I had our own little book club for this. Both of them said they had no idea what the connection was until it was revealed.
In our current moment when both women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights are under attack yet again, I thought this was an enjoyable read without reflecting on today too much and becoming depressing. Evelyn is famous in the 1940s and 50s–and maybe the 60s? I can’t remember. It was during a time when women were expected only to get married and have babies and if you were gay, you were for sure supposed to hide it. Evelyn is a woman who has worked through some character flaws to, not exactly give societal norms the finger, but to end up living a life she wanted. She’s still flawed at the end, but really, who isn’t?
Would I recommend this to my sister? If she hadn’t already read it, yes.
ETA: I just realized I totally forgot the plot point that, not only is Evelyn hiding parts of her sexuality, but also her heritage. She is Cuban but in order to have success in Hollywood, she stops speaking any Spanish, changes her name, and dyes her hair blonde.
That self editing IS actually a bit depressing. I don’t understand the mentality of people who only want to recognize one type of person or one way of being in this world. There are plenty of aspects of cultures other than my own that I don’t understand. There are types of sexuality that I don’t quite understand. My reaction to those things is curiosity. It probably makes me naive to say that I just can’t wrap my mind around why people would want to beat down and demonize and deny the existence of things they don’t understand.
Ok, I have to stop thinking about this before I spiral and then I’ll never get the rest of these reviews done!
