The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Our early adolescent years are years filled with regret. From the ages 10-13, we develop our personalities and find our likes and dislikes; it’s only natural that we develop insecurities about who we are. Once these insecurities emerge, our every decision is fueled with the intention of becoming the perfect version of ourselves we made in our minds. This desperation leads us to make terrible decisions, whether that be creating a facade to appease our cooler peers or being mean to our mothers. We are so laser-focused on standing on a social pedestal that we forget who we originally were from the beginning. We don’t realize the regrets until years later when its consequences are still in effect. Wanting the end result as fast as possible rather

Evelyn Hugo is an actress of Marilyn Monroe status, though in order to get to that position, she sacrifices a multitude of relationships and loses herself. Only once her facade is too strongly implemented does she realize that having tunnel vision has led her to face grave consequences. When getting interviewed by Monique, the journalist she selected to write her biography, she finishes her life story, stating that it all ended in vain. She tells her, “That’s how my story ends. With the loss of everyone I have ever loved. With me, in a big beautiful Upper East Side apartment, missing everyone who ever meant anything to me” (Reid 358). Evelyn expresses that, despite living a lavish life, her method of achieving her dream left her in a state of grief, as though she expected to be happy, she is not. By emphasizing her “big, beautiful” apartment, she’s displaying how she should feel. Her grand apartment is what the general public sees on the outside–a glamorous celebrity with more money than the rest of them. With the sentiment that money can buy happiness, Evelyn should be happy. Her outside image is that of prestige, but this image doesn’t quite reflect her internal struggle. The word “missing” reflects this disconnect. The word connotes a sad, melancholic feeling, often associated with death, loss, and emptiness, in other words, grief. Grief is the closest way to explain Evelyn’s life after she finally made it to the position she always dreamed of. Why should she be unhappy if the world would kill to have what she does. Though on the outside, she’s glamorous, on the inside, she’s a shell of what she used to be. Her external appearance does not reflect what she truly feels, leading the rest of the world to fall for her facade. Her prioritization of the end goal–fame and fortune, has led her to lose herself, the one who died along with her