I had heard of this title tossed around a few times in several booktube videos. However, I was reluctant to pick it up as I had it confused with Ruskin Bond’s famous story ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands, and that one is slightly on the darker side. In fact, even when I finally started reading the Evelyn Hugo book, I didn’t know I was reading a different story. It is when the 21st century elements (like e mails, text messages and Hollywood) made their appearance, that I realized I had been confused.
Basically, this entire confusion led me to start a book without any clue as to what it is about. In fact I was expecting to read a murder mystery, instead, I encountered the kind of plot I absolutely love: a woman’s journey through the glitzy world of the rich and her conquering every challenge that the male dominant world throws at her. I know, that’s quite specific for a favorite plot. But I’ll give you one name and you’ll understand why I love it: Sidney Sheldon.
Unlike Sidney Sheldon novels though, this story has an angle to it one would never expect to find in a book about a woman’s seven marriages. The question of whom did Evelyn Hugo really loved looms large throughout the book. Does it mean that she married seven times because she was miserable at succeeding at love, or did she marry seven times for her love?
I won’t reveal too much as I truly think the best way to approach this story is by knowing nothing about it. What I will say is that once I found myself immersed in the story, it was difficult to keep it down. Few non mystery books are able to capture my attention this way.
In the beginning, seven marriages in one lifetime does seem a bit too much. I kind of thought that I will find at least one or two of those unions forced in the story, just to bring the number to a dramatic sounding ‘seven’. However, each and every marriage evolved so organically, as if there was of course no other way…
This book screams the message that people are like ice bergs, you just see the tip of their personality, the major part is hidden. And this is especially true for the famous whose lives are consumed by the public for entertainment. When in fact, the truth is that what we see is not always what goes on within their true lives, behind closed doors.
Overall, a fine read. It is a unique story, wrapped up in glamorous descriptions. So you get the best of both worlds. You get romance, in every form possible, and you get emotions as deep and dark as hurt, loss and desperation.
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