Why“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” felt like an empty story at its ending.

I finished this book recently, and I found it incredibly emotional. I have to admit I nearly cried at the end when (spoiler alert!) Evelyn slowly watches all her loved ones die before her. Harry tragically bleeding out from a car crash, Celia from COPD, and her daughter from cancer. It’s devastating that Hugo was slowly learning what would amount in her own standards to a life worth living for her — spending it with her loved ones — only to find that’s the only thing she didn't really fully accomplish.

Her entire life revolved around her hustle as an actress and the talent with which she manipulated the press into focusing its attention on the topics that would propel her career forward. As I closed the book to process all the jarred emotions its ending evokes, I have to admit I didn't only feel sad, but I also felt tired. While this book is indeed masterfully written, I believe the story of her life lacked a kind of passion for her work that would have made the entire book more palatable. While Evelyn clearly states multiple times that her main goal in life is to be a famous actress, we can also find her admitting she doesn't like the action of acting. She acts for the renown and status it gives her, but it's an empty action as at the end of the day she doesn't see the joy in her work for its own sake, and this — I find — is the key for which the book feels so empty at its ending.

A the end of the book Hugo deliver a clear message: I sacrificed the time I had with my loved ones for my career, now all my loved ones are gone, I don't want to continue working, and therefore I don't have a reason to stay in this world any longer. I believe if Hugo truly had the passion for acting she lacked, her ending would not have been as bleak, as her sacrifice would have amounted to more. Her ending would have contained purpose to a certain degree, and maybe she would have stuck around to be a mentor to younger actresses.