Georgia Kostopoulou

The known and famous Hollywood actor Evelyn Hugo is ready to talk about her scandalous life. Right on time with the exhibition of her famous and glamorous dresses, Evelyn Hugo has decided to give an interview, one that she has never given. What surprised everyone the most, was that she chose an unknown magazine reporter to do so. The magazine was more than happy with this request, even though it didn’t make sense why Evelyn Hugo chose Monique Grant for this job. They never thought she would be aware Monique was working for their magazine.

Monique was astonished herself. Being at a point in her life where her husband David had just left her to work at a different state and her stagnated career, she wanted something to boost her. But she wants to take this challenge, only to find out that Evelyn Hugo never wanted to give an interview. She wanted to share with Monique her life’s story, one that would become her biography, should Monique chose to accept the offer. Summoned at Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan, Monique get’s to be in the receiving end of Evelyn’s narration of her spectacular life. Starting from her early years in Hell’s Kitchen all the way up to moving to Los Angeles and what became her successful career in Hollywood. The people she met. The movies she made. The working environment in the world’s most known business. The seven husbands she took. But as the narration moves on, Monique cannot find herself to understand why Evelyn chose her to be her biographer. When she does, her own world shatters to pieces, as what she knew for years to be true, is so much different than the actual events.

The story goes back in time as Evelyn recites her story. She is the only one who could share such details of her private life and she does it so bluntly, which is a very good reason for me to like a character. She is the first to say that she knew what she was doing and the reason she was doing it for. She makes it pretty clear that Hollywood is tough and sometimes ugly world, so in the 50s as it is today. She doesn’t hide anything. Monique’s first question was which one of those seven husbands Evelyn had was her true love. So Evelyn goes through her life story right from the start, until the point that she doesn’t really have to say it, but makes it really clear who was the love of her life.

Monique plays a very important role in the book. She is the person that get’s to write the biography of a very famous actress, but she is chosen for a very specific reason. We don’t get to see much about her life. We only get a glimpse after Evelyn stops her narration for the day. We don’t get to see much about the fact that she and David are separating, but we see that they actually do. I belie the author wanted to give the impression of someone that was used to be depended to someone else, and that when this someone left the picture she was devastated, only to find a new stronger self learning from Evelyn’s experiences. Unfortunately I didn’t see it clearly. I would like to be given more information on that part.

I really liked how the story was built, with the main character talking about her own life. What I also loved were the different themes this book had to offer. The different treatment between men and women in so many different aspects of life. The biracial character, the bisexual representation, the lesbian and the gay representation. The fact that a woman was hiding her true lineage in order to succeed in her career. True love and true friendship. These are some of my favorite parts of the story, along with the message to stand for what you believe and fight for your dreams.

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