Hollywood Romance

Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017) tells the story of a reclusive movie star and the young writer engaged to tell her story. 

Evelyn Hugo became a film icon, rising through the 1950s Hollywood studio system, often cast as the sexy siren, who then established herself as a major talent in her later years by taking on more gritty, off-type parts. Along the way she married seven times - to Hollywood heartthrobs, directors, producers, and unknowns - and had a daughter she adores. Evelyn retired in the 1980s and disappeared from public view. Now at age 79, Evelyn decides to sell her collection of iconic designer gowns and donate the proceeds to charity. She agrees to give an interview to Vivant magazine to coincide with the auction. But there's a catch - Evelyn will only be interviewed by reporter Monique Grant. 

Monique is a relatively unknown journalist and she has no idea why she was chosen for this story. But it has come at the right time. Monique has just separated from her husband and her writing career has stalled so she needs a distraction. She makes her way to Hugo's Upper West Side apartment and meets the star. Nearing 80 years of age, Evelyn is still glamorous, quick-witted, and determined to live life on her own terms.  As the interview begins, Monique learns that Evelyn has plans for a wholly different story. 

To say more about the plot would spoil the story, but suffice it to say that we learn about the many marriages and true love of our heroine as she seeks to finally reveal her truth. Evelyn's story is remarkable, marrying to escape difficult situations, to shape her career, and to create a public persona. But the real Evelyn lies beneath, overcoming hardship and adversity, having to fight to achieve all that she has. The Golden Age of Hollywood was not a welcoming place for people who were different, and so often they, like Evelyn, had to hide parts of themselves to succeed. Evelyn Hugo is easily recognisable - I think of her as a mix of Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor - women admired primarily for their beauty and sex appeal when they should be recognised for their many talents. 

I loved this book and found myself engrossed in the storytelling. Jenkins Reid intersperses the interview narrative with news articles from old Hollywood gossip rags, and switches between Evelyn and Monique's perspectives. Every so often Evelyn throws a curve ball that twists the plot in another direction, keeping the reader invested in the story. As she reveals her secrets to Monique, Evelyn shows she is so much more complex than she has ever been given credit for and reveals why Monique was chosen to write Evelyn's story.  This is a great book for readers seeking to escape or to reignite one's reading mojo.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is being adapted for the screen and I look forward to revisiting Evelyn's story when it is released.

Portrait of a Marriage: The Mister

Ten years after publishing his debut novel Mrs Bridge (1959), Evan S Connell revisited the story with a companion novel Mr Bridge (1969). Covering the same time period - 1920s through 1940s - in this novel the story of the Bridge family is told from the perspective of the husband and father. 

Walter Bridge is a busy lawyer with a devoted wife, India, and three children. The novel starts with a chapter on 'Love' in which he reflects on his deep devotion to his wife. 'My life did not begin until I knew her. She would like to hear this, he was sure, but he did not know how to tell her' (p1). 

He expresses his love for his family through tirelessly working to secure their futures. He pays for their lifestyle, their country club membership, and gives them stock options as Christmas gifts. He tries to instil his conservative values in his children, which often leads to conflict. He is rigid in his thinking, and his children are often exasperated with his out-dated views. He bemoans his children's willingness to quit summer jobs, to hang out with friends who are beneath them in social status, and their frivolity with money. When his eldest daughter Ruth moves to New York she befriends artists. Mr Bridge considers himself 'reasonably broad-minded' (p180) but cannot understand how Ruth would become acquainted with homosexuals. 

Mr Bridge is instantly recognisable as an archetype of a conservative, white, straight, family man. He is casually racist and antisemitic, but doesn't see himself as such because he can name a black or Jewish person that he likes. He doesn't understand why someone would invest in and admire art, cannot comprehend men dancing in a ballet, and won't give money to beggars as he believes that if they want money they should get a job. 

We learn that Mr Bridge is just as confined by gender stereotypes as his wife is. There is a remarkable scene at a Chinese restaurant in the chapter 'Good Luck' where his wife swallows the paper fortune inside a fortune cookies. Mr Bridge realises his naive wife has been so sheltered and that since their marriage he had taken the role of her father and 'she knew nothing she had not been permitted to know' (p 210). He blames himself, but also judges her for not being more worldly. 

Written in the same format as Mrs Bridge, this unconventional novel is told in 141 short, chronological chapters with titles like 'Boxtops', 'Tijuana' and 'Bleh!'. Interestingly each chapter is almost double the length of those in Mrs Bridge, as if Mr Bridge had more perspective to offer on this family despite spending so much time away from them.  He was a mysterious void in the first novel, but here we see a complicated, conflicted man determined to fulfil his role as provider, yet with numerous vulnerabilities he hides from others.

I adored Mrs Bridge and enjoyed Mr Bridge almost (but not quite) as much. While I preferred the first book,  I am so pleased to have read both, as they are remarkable character studies written in such concise prose by a gifted writer. The Bridge family will stay in my memory for a long time.

Portrait of a Marriage: The Missus

I am not sure where I got the notion to read Evan S Connell's novels Mr Bridge (1959) and Mrs Bridge (1969) but it became an obsession. Getting my hands on a copy of Mrs Bridge was easy enough, but everywhere I looked was out of stock of Mr Bridge. Although I have had Mrs Bridge for several months, I did not want to start reading in case I never found her companion novel. Fortunately, late last year my set became complete and I have now had the absolute joy of reading these novels.

Mrs Bridge is the story of an upper middle-class family in Kansas City, spanning the period between the First and Second World Wars. It is told from the perspective of Mrs Bridge, a housewife with three children. Her husband is a lawyer who spends most of his time, including evenings and weekends, at work. With live-in help and a largely-absent partner, Mrs Bridge has plenty of time on her hands so she spends her days visiting other society women, attending her country club and shopping.  But beneath this simple tale of a seemingly hum-drum middle-class domestic life lies something profoundly engaging.

Told in 117 short, chronological chapters, we observe Mrs Bridge and her family through the social change and upheaval of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Each chapter has a title - 'Tea Leaves', 'Chaperone', 'The Hat' - and then a vignette written in the most concise, arresting language that perfectly paints a moment in time for this family. The cumulative effect of reading these scenes is an empathy for these characters and a desire for their happiness.

Mrs Bridge is a fantastic, complex character. She values manners above all and is acutely aware of the expectations of society. She wants things to be just right - the right kind of guest towels, the right amount of Christmas decorations, her children socialising with the right sort of people - and the fear of being judged weighs heavily on her. Relying on adages of her own upbringing, Mrs Bridge knows how things should be, but at every turn her world view is challenged. 

The Bridges are a conservative, traditional family. Mrs Bridge defers to her husband with an unwavering faith that he knows best. At the same time, her hesitation to take action causes her discomfort. Even when she has a different view, she does not voice her opinion as she had 'for nearly a century had done as he told her' (p 112). She limits herself to conform to the image of a dutiful wife and mother which she feels she needs to present.

Her children are a mystery to her. The eldest Ruth is distant. She is most fond of her daughter Carolyn, who is very much like her father. Her son Douglas is an oddity to whom she cannot relate. Indeed Douglas provides much of the novel's humour as Mrs Bridge is routinely shocked and perplexed by his actions like building a tower of junk in a vacant lot, concealing a pornographic magazine, or getting into a rock fight with another boy. 

Yet there is something within Mrs Bridge that longs for a different life. From the outset we learn that her first name is India, which seems to her 'that her parents must have been thinking of someone else when they named her' (p1). After all, she could never live up to the excitement of her name. She is eager to learn and over the course of the novel she takes up various hobbies only to drop them unmastered - learning Spanish, painting, reading. Mrs Bridge briefly sees a therapist to address an unnamed sadness, a lack of meaningful connection.

Underneath all of this is Mrs Bridge's concern about her husband's affection. He works hard to provide the life they need, and the family wants for nothing. He expresses his love through buying her things. But Mrs Bridge is lonely and longs to spend more time with him, which she gets when he takes her on a grand tour of Europe. 

I absolutely adored Mrs Bridge although I cannot exactly pinpoint why. Connell's writing is brilliant as he infuses each scene with wit and irony. He uses such concise prose that the reader immediately understands the scene. The novel works because Connell makes the reader care for this family and even though modern life is so different from the setting of this book, the human experience is instantly relatable.

Immediately upon finishing this novel I commenced reading Mr Bridge. A separate review will follow.