chapters : 69 age group : adult genre : romance, historical fiction
representation : poc, lgbt
🚨 don't read the summary and the rest if you don't want any spoilers 🚨
summary : aging and reclusive hollywood movie icon evelyn hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. but when she chooses unknown magazine reporter monique grant for the job, no one is more astounded than monique herself. why her? why now?
monique is not exactly on top of the world. her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. regardless of why evelyn has selected her to write her biography, monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
summoned to evelyn's luxurious apartment, monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. from making her way to los angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.
notes : i watched this one tv show and i cried for a few days so i had no tears left when i read this book but i wanted to cry a lot.
a beautiful book and it's fiercely and unapologetically socio-political.
it is difficult for me to compare this book to anything else, because i haven't read something like this before. i understand why everyone is saying that this is one of the most remarkable novels they have ever read.
i loved how honest and flawed evelyn is and it just reminded me that no matter how spectacular other people's lives appear to be, they've had many days where they felt hated, rejected, unattractive, and as if nothing they do has any meaning. aka human.
the author does a great job with the bi representation, all the emotions and freaking heartbreaks, the love and the loss and i can carry on forever.
what a journey!
quotes : ❝ be wary of men with something to prove ❞
❝ people think that intimacy is about sex. but intimacy is about truth. when you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is 'you're safe with me'- that's intimacy ❞
❝ never let anyone make you feel ordinary ❞
❝ i didn't need boys in order to feel good. and that realization gave me great power ❞
❝ make them pay you what they would pay a white man ❞
❝ i spent half my time loving her and the other half hiding how much i loved her ❞
❝ i guess what i'm saying is it's not all luck. it's luck and being a son of a bitch. harry taught me that ❞
