The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

“When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things.”

Evelyn achieves everlasting fame because of her willingness to take what she wants. This is also a crucial lesson Monique takes from her time with Evelyn, which she adopts for getting a raise and ending an unhappy marriage.

“Don Adler treated me like a person. There are people who see a beautiful flower and rush over to pick it. They want to hold it in their hands, they want to own it. They want the flower’s beauty to be theirs, to be within their possession, their control. Don wasn’t like that. At least, not at first. Don was happy to be near the flower, to look at the flower, to appreciate the flower simply being.”

Flowers are often used to symbolize femininity and beauty. Here, Evelyn recognizes that this comparison is more about possession than appreciation. This indicates that part of Evelyn’s initial attraction to Don stems from him seeming to react differently to her beauty than others; though, Don proves to be worse in that he values Evelyn’s appearance for how it boosts his own.

“I wasn’t the only woman being hit back then. A lot of women were negotiating the very same things I was at that moment. There was a social code for these things. The first rule being to shut up about it.”

This quote emphasizes the culture of abuse that was normalized and perpetuated by social codes—everywhere—but especially in Hollywood. It also begins the novel’s study of how abusers are inadvertently protected by these practices. In Evelyn’s case, even when other women discover her abuse, they ignore it, subjecting her to more.

“I really like you. I like watching you on-screen. I like how the moment you show up in a scene, I can’t look at anything else. I like the way your skin is too dark for your blond hair, the way the two shouldn’t go together and yet seem so natural on you. And to be honest, I like how calculating and awful you are.”

Celia’s compliment here is striking for two reasons: first, it is unusual for fellow actresses to recognize others’ talents because of the competitive and anti-feminist culture of the film industry at this time; second, Celia’s attraction for Evelyn is evident in the way she speaks about her. Her compliment, also, is the first Evelyn receives from a romantic interest that does not exclusively involve her looks. Instead, Celia sees all of Evelyn and likes her for it.

“I felt flushed hearing her talk about me like that. Having her talk about the way men saw me. I’d never heard a woman talk about me that way before.”

This quote is the first indication of Evelyn’s feelings for Celia. The physical reaction she has to Celia precedes Evelyn’s cognitive recognition, suggesting that Evelyn is not yet aware of her sexuality. Growing up in a time with no representation of queer women—and indeed the outright denial of their right to exist—Evelyn is not prepared to even recognize her bisexuality, but this quote works to foreshadow their romantic relationship.

“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth.”

This is the message of the overall narrative. Evelyn, having lived most of her life defined by sex, finds fulfillment in telling the truth. It also expresses the profound connection Evelyn and Celia enjoy; Evelyn learns the real meaning of love and intimacy because of Celia.

“I should have been plotting to one-up her in some way by planting a story that she was a prude or sleeping around. That is the fastest way to ruin a woman’s reputation, after all—to imply that she has not adequately threaded the needle that is being sexually satisfying without ever appearing to desire sexual satisfaction.”

Evelyn highlights society’s reductive stereotyping of women and the irony in how women are categorized. Evelyn, as a major sex icon, can be—and is, later in life—punished for appearing to enjoy sex. This is not only inaccurate but a reflection of misogynistic social codes implying that women exist to meet the sexual needs of men.

“Don’t ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box, Monique.”

This passage stresses the nuances of identity, a major consideration of the text. Evelyn is particularly sensitive to this because so much of her identity has been generalized by biases and prejudice. This is why her biography is so important to her: She needs every part of her to be expressed.

“As long as I only indulged my thoughts about Celia sometimes, then I could tell myself it wasn’t real. Homosexuals were misfits. And while I didn’t think that made them bad people—after all, I loved Harry like a brother—I wasn’t ready to be one of them.”

Evelyn’s internalized anti-gay prejudice reflects the culture she exists in. This, then, causes her to suppress her feelings for Celia because she has been taught that they are wrong. Primarily, this quote reveals how Evelyn’s own beliefs indirectly perpetuate anti-gay prejudice; simply by saying she doesn’t want to be like “them,” she reiterates the very sentiments that keep her from coming out.

“Heartbreak is loss. Divorce is a piece of paper. […] I wonder why that sort of distinction has never crossed my mind before.”

This is one of the major lessons which Evelyn imparts to Monique. Before this, Monique had believed her sadness over David leaving was heartbreak, but Evelyn teaches her about the many faces of grief; she can, in fact, be sad and still want something to end. This revelation empowers Monique to end her marriage and view all relationships differently.

“It’s all curated to make the audience at home feel like outsiders, to make you feel like a fly on the wall of a club you aren’t good enough to get into. And I was surprised by how effective it was on me, how easy it was to fall for, even for a person who had just recently been at the very center of it.”

In the narrative, the symbol of Hollywood is often used to relate artifice and disappointment. Here, Evelyn relates how even those who are aware of Hollywood’s pretense can fall for it. This passage highlights one’s desire to achieve exclusivity because it feeds the ego. Evelyn’s self-awareness is highlighted here as she acknowledges that she is drawn to this aspect of fame.

“You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until someone stands behind you and says, ‘It’s OK, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you.’ So I fell down. And Harry caught me.”

Harry serves as Evelyn’s greatest support system and is a representation of the validity of a chosen family. Here, Evelyn’s tough exterior crumbles mostly because she has Harry to rely on. This critical moment in their friendship demonstrates that they can make it through anything together.

“And now that I don’t have her, and I have more money than I could ever use in a lifetime, and my name is cemented in Hollywood history, and I know how hollow it is, I am kicking myself for every single second I chose it over loving her proudly.”

This quote combines the thematic emphases upon the meaninglessness of material possessions and the morally corrupting cost of fame to relay Evelyn’s greatest regrets. Having chosen empty values over the love of her life, Evelyn will live with the consequences of that decision for the rest of her life. Ironically, it is the money and fame she cannot be rid of, but Celia who she can never get back.

“I’ll never forget the morning after the Stonewall riots. […] I started crying when I realized those men were willing to fight for a dream I had never even allowed myself to envision. A world where we could be ourselves, without fear and without shame. Those men were braver and more hopeful than I was.”

Mentioning the Stonewall Riots centers the novel historically. As a queer woman, Evelyn must reconcile with the fact that others are fighting—and dying—for rights that she will benefit from. This realization humanizes Evelyn, showing that despite her strength, she is still vulnerable to cowardice.

“I’d be the first person to say back when I was young that all I was a nice pair of tits. The only currency I had was my sexuality, and I used it like money. […] And taking pride in your beauty is a damning act. Because you allow yourself to believe that the only thing notable about yourself is something with a very short shelf life.”

Despite being arguably the most beautiful woman in the world, Evelyn suffers from insecurity like most others. Her insecurities, however, ironically derive from the very thing that draws others’ envy. Here, she reveals how demoralizing it is for someone—especially women—to be valued solely for their beauty; being taught that she is only loved for something that she hasn’t earned and will one day lose implies that she was never truly loved in the first place. It is one of Evelyn’s greatest sources of grief.

“But Celia only saw things in black and white. She liked women and only women. And I liked her. And so she often denied the rest of me. […] She liked to ignore it until the very moment she decided to be threatened by it. That seemed to be her pattern. I was a lesbian when she loved me and a straight woman when she hated me.”

This quote demonstrates Celia’s moral complexity. Her biphobia is indicative of her insecurities and represents how most of the world viewed bisexuality at that time. Celia views sexuality in polarizing ways, which is perhaps another reason it is so important for Evelyn to be understood completely in her biography.

“Guilt is a feeling I’ve never made much peace with. I find that when it rears its head, it brings an army. When I feel guilty for one thing, I start to see all the other things I should feel guilty for.”

Evelyn, immediately, clarifies that she has no regrets about her life because she feels her motivations were valid. Here, she offers a differentiation between guilt and regret; she can recognize that her choices were not right and still stand by them. When it comes to Celia, she acknowledges how much she hurt her and how hard it is for her to live with that knowledge.

“When I met him, as we fell in love, I remember thinking that the fact that he was white made things easier because I knew he would never tell me I wasn’t black enough. I think of Evelyn the first time she heard her maid speaking Spanish.”

This quote positions Monique and Evelyn as parallels because of their identities as women of color and their strained relationships with their respective cultural identities. Monique, after the death of her father, felt distant from her Black identity. This is intensified by her limited exposure to other biracial children. As she accepts every facet of her identity as a whole piece, she realizes her insecurity about not being “black enough” mirrors Evelyn’s insecurity about not speaking Spanish correctly.

“That girl in Boute-en-Train mesmerized everybody. Even the man who created her. And I didn’t know how to tell him that I loved her, too. But I wasn’t her.”

This passage emphasizes the illusion of Evelyn Hugo as a false construct. As Evelyn ages, she better recognizes the cruelty of this. Her marriage with Max truly teaches her this lesson—some people will always love the figure more than the actual woman.

“There are no more mountains to climb. Well, you know what? I’m done hiding. Let them come and get me. They can throw me down a well as far as I’m concerned.”

After Evelyn has achieved all her goals, she realizes how very insignificant all of those milestones were to her long-term happiness. It is this realization that empowers her to accept her bisexuality and endeavor to earn Celia’s love. This marks the full transformation of Evelyn from an ambitious, power-hungry starlet, to a woman only seeking peace of mind.

“The past few years, I’d watched Harry lose friend after friend, former lovers, to AIDS. I’d watched him cry his eyes red out of fear he’d get sick, for not knowing how to help the people he loved. And I’d watched Ronald Reagan never so much as acknowledge what was happening in front of our eyes.”

Like the mention of the Stonewall Riots, this passage roots the narrative within actual historical events. The AIDS crisis is a particularly relevant concern for the queer community; the US administration, led by Reagan, essentially invalidated the dignity and right to life of gay men by refusing to acknowledge the plague-like epidemic of AIDS.

“But of course, they got it wrong. They never did care about getting it right. The media are going to tell whatever story they want to tell. They always have. They always will.”

This quote captures Evelyn’s motivation for releasing a tell-all. Throughout her career, the press has built and destroyed her image to sell papers. This highlights the insignificance of truth within the industry and its increasing value to Evelyn as she ages. Evelyn reclaims the narrative of her life by controlling how the information is released.

“Nobody deserves anything […] No one is just a victim or a victor. Everyone is somewhere in between.”

This sentiment encapsulates Evelyn’s view of her life, enabling her to make decisions that might harm others to protect herself. It also echoes Monique’s description of Evelyn as neither good nor bad, but “somewhere in the middle” (367). This passage furthers the novel’s consideration of morality, positing that Evelyn’s morally grey character is more relatable than Monique previously believed.