Encontré pasión con otros hombres, de vez en cuando. Pero preferiría perder todo eso si pudiera tener unos días más con él. Una sola charla trasnochada. Nunca me importó demasiado la pasión. Pero esa clase de intimidad que teníamos, eso era lo que yo atesoraba.
“if you are intolerable, let me be the one to tolerate you,” i said, and then i kissed her and tasted the lemon juice on her lips.
and what does it mean that we have not spoken in a decade but i still hear your voice in my head every day?
now the only person i think about is you.
let’s get married right here and now. me and you. in this bed. you don’t even have to put on a white nightgown.
"so please don’t say you’re proud of me when i’ve lost my way” “then can i say: i couldn’t get my mind off you all day”
you are a call to motion. there, all of you, a verb in perfect view.
slap my face, or hold me till winter.
let’s be scared together. let’s pretend that nothing is awful. there’s nothing to fear, just stay right here.
“do you regret?” “i’d do it again. i’d like to believe that i’d do it again and again and again… and what more can i say?”
as she sees him, her heart skips, just once. like it used to. he hears it.
“you dreamt of me?” “no, i thought of you”
now you hang from my lips like the gardens of babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con.
i don’t know where this road will end but i’ll walk it with you hand in hand. do you let me walk with you?
i was thinking that i would like to never have to leave this room. what do you think about that? …let’s just stay here.
sometimes… i still wish we never left that room.
yes, now i know that home is where you are.
in the low lamp light i was free, heaven and hell were words to me. when my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth. no grave can hold my body down, i’ll crawl home to her.
“i’ll take care of you.” “it’s rotten work.” “not to me. not if its you.”
the seven husbands of evelyn hugo [book] / in the heights [musical]/ movement [song] / falsettos [musical] / elektra (1996) #12 [comic] / portrait of a lady on fire [film] / cowboy like me [song] / hadestown [musical] / daredevil vol. 2 #37 [comic] / catch me if you can [musical] / work song [song] / grief lessons: four plays by euripides [play]
“She’s gone now,” Evelyn says. “The love of my life is gone, and I can’t just call her and say I’m sorry and have her come back. She’s gone forever. I regret every second I didn’t spend with her. I regret every stupid thing I did that caused her an ounce of pain. I should have chased her down the street the day she left me. I should have begged her to stay. I should have apologized and sent roses and stood on top of the Hollywood sign and shouted, ‘I’m in love with Celia St. James!’ and let them crucify me for it.”
Hear that??? THAT’S THE SOUND OF MY HEART BEING SHATTERED BY THIS BOOK FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME-
I was fine but then Evelyn Hugo decided to say “Please never forget that the sun rises and sets with your smile. At least to me it does. You’re the only thing on this planet worth worshipping.” And now I’m very much not fine :)
Somewhere between thinking of Beth as “the middle sister who dies, what about her?” to “the nice one, the one who wants everyone to be happy”, Evelyn Hugo fell in love with Celia St James.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“When you write the ending, Monique, make sure the reader understands that all I was ever really looking for was family. Make sure it’s clear that I found it. Make sure they know that I am heartbroken without it.”
I think I am the odd one out here, but does anybody else not really like Celia and/or her relationship with Evelyn? I understand that people are complicated and relationships have flaws, however, I can’t shake the feeling that she isn’t good for Evelyn and is only in love with the version of Evelyn she has created in her head… And by “I can’t shake the feeling” I mean “It’s pretty explicitly stated that that is what Celia does”.
she does admit she was wrong later but….idk??? I generally felt that evelyn deserved way better. While both were mean to each other at times, evelyn insofar my memory goes doesn’t really make personal/low digs at celia except (rightfully) calling out her privilege as a white kid and product of nepotism. Whereas celia CONTINUALLY invalidates Evelyn’s bisexuality and there was this running trend where she kept wanting to freeze frame her as the attractive blonde bombshell, and when she did apologize her apologies came off half-hearted and more like an attempt to further the wlw plot than genuine development. Idk. there was also a bit of a ‘bi people cheat and closeted people are cowards’ vibe from her which continued far too long for me to properly warm up to her in the last third of the novel.
Unrelated but; I kind of disliked that celia was always portrayed as the idealist in contrast to cynical evelyn and like the pristine romantic counterpart to her ambitious bitchy self. Celia was the more talented actress, evelyn had more sex appeal (initially), celia wanted to give up everything for evelyn, evelyn initially hesitates. most of the novel is her apologizing to celia and idk it made me super iffy that the Cuban bisexual woman had to suffer and self-doubt over and over and over for the white woman. Due to the lack of other mentioned female characters (positively lol) in Evelyn’s time, I have to settle for shipping her with celia but I definitely would prefer someone else for her, kind of like in Tipping the Velvet, where the protagonist realises she likes women by falling in love with one, but ends up at the end with someone much better suited for her.
Even if the relationship was portrayed as realistic, I still couldn’t bring myself to like Celia. When she’s mad at Evelyn, she’ll either cry, or just storm out of her supposed lover’s life. Don’t even get me started on the way she would drop insults on Evelyn. It just bothered me so much that Evelyn would just come find her again and again, apologizing, then planning some way they can be together, it got tiresome to the point where I just sat there and thought “Evelyn, why even bother at this point?”
You make a fair point. Tbh, I started out liking Celia, but with my experiences of rampant biphobia in the LGBTQ community, each reread I find myself sympathizing with her a little less.
✦@booksociety’s Into the Past event:The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.
The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo moods for the signs
Aries - After a breakup, standing tall and knowing your worth and in the next second, having a breakdown. Getting the way-too-expensive-takeout because you ~deserve it~ even though all you did today was bathe and read your book. Being the talk of the town. Commanding every room you walk into, without even lifting a finger.
Taurus - Committing to yourself first. Changing lovers every week. Getting the best contract in the business, because you know how to negotiate. When you’re nominated for the academy awards, planning on acting modest if you lose, but when it actually happens, you have a meltdown in the bathroom. Having no problem of using the courtesy of your body to get yourself famous. Hating cute couple nicknames.
Gemini - Lying to people just when it gives you an advantage, never out of fun. Knowing exactly how much a sharp word can hurt. Changing your name cause it will get you places. Knowing how much your humor is worth, and how good you look in a short dress, and how these two facts can make people see you as the shining star of any party.
Cancer - When in heartbreak, taking your sorrow and writing a love letter about it, then tearing it up and instead plotting to get your housemaid to talk to the papers. Looking good with smudged mascara and loving the dramatic gloom of taking a walk on Hollywood Boulevard all alone. When in love, sacrificing a lot — like a lot! — for your relationship.
Leo - I’m sorry to the other signs but — the emerald green gown. It was made for you. You know the burden of your popularity: giving enough attention to people to keep them on edge, enough gossip to keep them intrigued, but withdrawing enough to always keep them guessing (the last part is the hardest).
Virgo - Celia St. James vibes, getting Milkshakes with your girl friends. But also, having a kid with your platonic best friend and never regretting that decision. Freckles. Seeing people for what they really are, but also seeing what show they put on for the rest of the world.
Libra - Pulling off a fake marriage. Putting your nose in everything. Having a strange relationship to money. Reaching for the stars and actually going after them. Putting your leg out of the limousine, slowly, before the rest of you follows.
Scorpio - Posing a scandal for the papers with the help of your enemy, to hide an even bigger scandal. Knowing you’re absolutely hot, unrivaled. Using your brain to get what you want. Picking yourself up to keep going. Getting someone to elope with you as a part of a bigger plan, and then being offended if they use you just as you used them.
Sagittarius - Always waiting for the next honeymoon. Having no idea what good food is, but a lot of opinions. Pulling your friends up to ride with you on your success wave. Being attractive in a very obvious way, and sexual in a very secret way, different from how you present yourself to the public.
Capricorn - All your success is rooted in your hard work. You, and you alone brought you where you are now and you can be proud of that. Whereas people who know you well, know of the tears and sweat, to all the others it always seems effortless, easygoing, as if you just went the path that was made for you. There is a crown on your head (if invisible) and you wear it well.
Aquarius - Getting the guy without doing anything for it. Leaving your past behind you, but still thinking about it sometimes. Getting the apartment or house you always wanted by paying for it with your own damn money, which you worked hard for. Recognizing own weaknesses but not necessarily working on fixing them. Passionate kisses in plain sight. Soft kisses behind closed doors.
Pisces - Walking a rocky path to get to your goals. Finding lifelong friends without even looking for them. Having a soft side that is hard to show to others. Secretly following some creative drives that suddenly, when you put the work in, everybody is talking about. Surprising everyone with how beautiful you really are, when they just think of you as naive.
