“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” (post 3) by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Monique’s Puzzlingly Inconsistent Laugh

“My mom laughs. She’s always had a great laugh. It’s very carefree, very young. Mine is inconsistent. Sometimes it’s loud; sometimes it’s wheezy. Other times I sound like an old man. David [her ex-husband] used to say he thought my old-man laugh was the most genuine, because no one in their right mind would want to sound like that. Now I’m trying to remember the last time it happened” (1, p. 55).

Comment: In past posts, I have often discussed “puzzling inconsistency” as suggestive that a person may have multiple personality. That possibility is bolstered in the above passage by “Now I’m trying to remember the last time it happened,” which may indicate that she has a memory gap for another personality’s laugh.

Although puzzling inconsistency and memory gaps are suggestive of multiple personality, I wouldn’t make the diagnosis until I had knowingly spoken to alternate personalities, who might, for example, see themselves as having a different name, age, race, sex, or gender.

1. Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. New York, Washington Square/Atria, 2017/2018.