Read vs Listen: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Three narrators, one for each layer of the book, against more than a dozen printed press clippings.

Confidence 72%, which puts it in the leaning band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.

What this book actually is

A present-day interview wrapping a retrospective life story. A junior magazine journalist is summoned by a retired film star in her late seventies, ostensibly to cover a gown auction, and is instead given the whole life. The frame is not just a prologue: it returns repeatedly, and the final reveal is a frame-level event rather than a plot one.

After an opening block of chapters the book divides into seven titled parts, each named for a husband with a judgement attached, from 'Poor Ernie Diaz' to 'Agreeable Robert Jamison'. Two clocks run at once. The present-day sessions span about a week; the past runs chronologically from 1952 to roughly 2000 and does not jump about. Between the chapters sit more than a dozen fictional press pieces, each set as a masthead, a dateline and a tabloid headline. At two points the narration switches into the second person and addresses the reader directly.

The case for reading it

The clippings. In print, typography tells you what you are looking at before you read a word: you can see the masthead, see the date, and place it against whichever husband was current. Those datelines run from 1957 to 2000 and they work as data a reader compares at a glance. Audio has to teach you the same distinction through a change of voice, and one reviewer reports that there were moments in the past sections where it was hard to tell whether they were in the story or being told the story. The seven part-title pages work as visual chapter cards, and the two second-person passages are a formal rupture that the eye catches immediately.

The case for listening to it

The premise is a recording. A woman is speaking her life into a device for a journalist to transcribe, and on audio that is literally what you get; one reviewer describes it as sitting there listening to an aged actress recount the highs and lows of her Hollywood life. Alma Cuervo voices Evelyn and distinguishes past Evelyn from present Evelyn vocally. Julia Whelan reads the press pieces, one reviewer noting she does the gossip with a snarky tone that is a delight, which is an editorial attitude flat type cannot carry. Reviewers also report the multiple voices made perspective changes easy to detect, which is the thing print is supposed to be better at.

The audiobook in detail

Simon and Schuster Audio released it on 13 June 2017 at 12 hours 10 minutes, unabridged, which is about 8 hours 7 minutes at one and a half times speed. Three narrators are credited: Alma Cuervo, who voices Evelyn and carries the largest share; Julia Whelan, who reads the interspersed magazine and tabloid articles; and Robin Miles, whose role is not stated by any source. It is multi-voice rather than a full cast, and it is not dramatised. The US, UK and Australian listings all credit the same three, which points to one recording distributed regionally. It was a 2018 Audie Award finalist for Multi-Voiced Performance.

Who should ignore this verdict

An either verdict is only useful if you know which way to break the tie. Break it towards print if you like a book that is also an object, because the clippings and the part titles are the design, and break it towards print if you are the kind of reader who checks dates, because the clippings reward that and the recording does not. Break it towards audio if you have ever wanted a novel to feel like a confession, because that is what the recording turns it into, or if you are short of time, since twelve hours at speed is a weekend.

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