The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Week 7: Monique's Story — The Journalist in the Mirror
Read the chapters in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo that focus closely on Monique Grant's own present-day arc, interspersed throughout the narrative.
Previewing Week 7 of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 11-week guide when you’re ready.
The frame story is not simply a device — Monique Grant is a character with her own unresolved grief, her own silenced truths, and the novel asks whether listening to Evelyn's story will help Monique finally hear her own.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Monique is going through a painful separation when she begins working with Evelyn. How does her personal state of loss and uncertainty make her more or less equipped to receive a story as heavy as Evelyn's?
2.As Evelyn's story unfolds, Monique begins to see her own life differently — her choices, her marriage, her sense of her own worth. Identify one specific moment in the present-day sections where Evelyn's story visibly shifts something in Monique's understanding of herself.
3.Monique is a Black woman working in a predominantly white media industry. How does Reid draw parallels between Monique's experience of marginalization and Evelyn's experience as a Latina woman navigating Hollywood? Are these parallels illuminating or do they risk flattening their different experiences?