This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

by Jonathan Evison

“Once again, Jonathan Evison dazzles . . . This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance is as sweet as it is inventive, profound as it is hilarious, unflinching as it is bighearted.” —Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette
 
With her husband Bernard two years in the grave, seventy-nine-year-old Harriet Chance sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise only to discover through a series of revelations that she’s been living the past sixty years of her life under entirely false pretenses. There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearance of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter midway through the cruise, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life. 

Jonathan Evison—bestselling author of West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and All About Lulu—has crafted a bighearted novel with a supremely endearing heroine at its center. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of a postmodern everywoman with great warmth, humanity, and humor. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of the mother/daughter relationship, nothing is what it seems in this tale of acceptance, reexamination, forgiveness, and, ultimately, healing.It is sure to appeal to admirers of Evison’s previous work, as well as fans of such writers as Meg Wolitzer, Junot Diaz, and Karen Joy

“Evison is a ridiculously gifted storyteller . . . [This is] an irresistible, inventive novel full of important ideas about how we live our lives as parents, children, partners, and human beings.” —Jami Attenberg, author of The Middlesteins

“Has all the wonderful snap and sizzle we’ve come to expect from Jonathan Evison’s work, and as much heart as any novel I’ve read in recent years. [He] packs an entire life—many lives—into this fine book, and does so with the empathy and insight of a writer at the top of his game.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Book Club, Contemporary, Family, Adult Fiction, Adult

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2015

About the author

Jonathan Evison is the New York Times Bestselling author of All About Lulu, West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, and Lawn Boy.

In his teens, Evison was the founding member and frontman of the Seattle punk band March of Crimes, which included future members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

Born in San Jose, California, he now lives on an island in Western Washington.

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read one book of Jonathan Evison's previously The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and I loved it. So I hit that request button in a hurry when I saw this one come up on Netgalley.

This is the story of Harriet Chance. Told almost like a talk show host is hosting it for our viewing pleasure/displeasure. (There actually was a show like this on a hundred years ago-I barely remember it and I'm ancient)


Harriet's story is told through flash backs and present time. Her present time is shortly after her husband Bernard has died and she found out that he purchased the both of them tickets for an Alaskan cruise. Harriet's children don't want her to go because they think she is not in the best of health. Maybe, because she is suddenly seeing and talking to her dead husband.
But those children are not completely innocent in their looking after their aging mother. Assholes. (I didn't like either of them)

After realizing that she hasn't done much for herself in her entire lifetime Harriet decides to take the trip anyways. You do have to live sometime.



She plans on going with her best friend Mildred, but at the last minute Mildred backs out of the trip. She sends a letter with Harriet to be read after she starts the cruise. (You know that shit is not going to end well.)

Harriet's life showcase shows that she made some choices that changed her life..sometimes for the good and sometimes not. Some of the things that happened to her were just not her fault. But no one is completely innocent in a life.
Yes, all in all, things could be a lot worse. You could be divorced. You could be a widow. Gallo could stop selling wine by the jug. And where would that leave you, Harriet? Bored and sober.

Mine probably goes about like this....


This book did make me wonder through my memories at my life though and it frigging scared the shit out of me and made me want to give this book a one star.
You can't remember getting old. You can't remember when exactly you started carrying umbrellas just in case, when you started scheduling your weekly hair washings, oversalting your food, or reusing zipper-lock bags. It happened gradually.

PS..there is a habit of Harriet's that grated on my nerves through the whole book. She calls every dang body "dear"...


Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Now for the fun part!


I'm spotlighting a reviewer that my friend Kelly made told me to start following. He reviews awesomely so I did as I was told. For once.
Here is Larry's review. He uses words to review instead of cuss words and gifs like I do..but he still is pretty cool.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your review, Harriet Chance. No, way too corny but this book is written in that kind of style. An unknown narrator taking us back and forth and through the present of Harriet's life. Like the TV show that I kind of remember my mom watching. This book is laugh out loud funny at time and incredibly sad at others. Don't think I will ever forget Harriet and the lobster. You have too read this to understand and experience.

Kept asking myself what I would do if I found out the things Harriet did at the age of seventy eight? Memories, memories that make up a life, things we remember and regret, things we remember and cherish. How to understand how her life got here from there, but she does have some help from her two year dead husband. Some of that part is pretty amusing too. The cruise to Alaska will prove memorable in more ways than one, but it gives her a chance to reflect, realize her mistakes and make at least one thing better.

Seems there is a spate of elderly women novels, this year. I have read a few and this is one of my favorites. So easy to identify with, except the dead husband part maybe, though I did appreciate that little insertion of whimsy. We all have regrets of some sort or another, things we would like to go back and change but of course this is impossible. We all do, the best we can and so did Harriet.

ARC from publisher.

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's one of those books where I knew from the first page it was going to be a good one because there was just something about the writing and something about Harriet Chance that drew me in . Moving back and forth from the present to various times in her 79 years , part of the book is narrated by someone we never know who speaks directly to Harriet. I know I'm dating myself but I do remember watching the TV show This is Your Life. I may have been around ten years old, but I can still see the show's host , with a book in his hands, reading directly to the person whose life was on display as we learned about events and people from their past . This is exactly how it felt . This narration alternates with one by a straight third person narrator , but it is this outside look into Harriet's life - her thoughts, heart and soul , the good , the bad and absolutely the ugly things that happened . The development of this character was really amazing . Even though it is not in chronological order , by the end of the novel we have a complete portrait of Harriet - the main events and the trivial details of the life that didn't turn out exactly as she hoped it would.

She's a widow of two years , still exhausted from caring for her husband who had Alzheimer's, doesn't have the best relationship with her son and daughter and her dead husband , Bernard visits her frequently. These conversations are sweet and sad and not realistic unless you believe in ghosts , but I didn't mind. They were part of the revelation of Harriet's life.

While on an Alaskan cruise, that her husband won, a lifetime of deception surfaces. While you can't help but have your sympathies lie with Harriet , the events of the past reflect that no one is perfect here , including Harriet. It's funny at times and heartbreaking at other times , but maybe that sums up most people's lives .

Thanks to Algonquin Books and Edelweiss.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid, I could see the Sherwood Arms (aka Sherwood Village) from our kitchen window. No, not in the Sarah Palin sense of seeing it from the kitchen window. I mean, literally. The retirement community sat on the other side of abandoned cow pastures and the ruin of an old dairy barn. Right there on 5th avenue, in the village of Sequim (pronounced Skwim, in case you're wondering), tucked in the rain shadow of the Olympic Peninsula. It's still there, you know. So is my childhood home. But that empty pasture is now a ruin of hastily-built subdivisions and Sequim is a disaster of big box stores and highway overpasses.

Sequim is still a retirement Mecca, however; the physical beauty of its surroundings is irresistible, as are the low cost of living, the peaceful country roads, and yes, the convenience of a Costco. This stretch of the Peninsula (which includes my current home, about 30 miles to the east) boasts a mere 17-20" of annual rainfall, a meteorological anomaly in its situation on the edge of the rainiest spot in the continental United States—the Olympic National Forest. No wonder Harriet and Bernard Chance left their crowded, gray, over-priced North Seattle neighborhood to spend their golden years in a cedar-shingled, slate-tiled open floor plan dream.

Yep, Sequim is a real place. And Harriet Chance is every elderly woman you stand behind at the checkout counter, trying to keep your patience and good humor as she sorts out her coupons or painstakingly writes a check. She shops alone, because her spouse of fifty-five years is imprisoned by a decaying brain, held captive for his own safety in the Sherwood Arms, just a couple miles away, over there on 5th Avenue.

You don't really see all the Harriet Chances who cross your path on a daily basis, do you? Little old women are virtually invisible. Pretty much past their sell-by date, they're too slow, too dull, to merit much more than a pitying glance. Easy targets for a bit of behind-the-hand snickering or a roll of the eyes.

And yet, in the care of Jonathan Evison's ever-gracious, humane and tender wit, one little old woman assumes a gravitas of Tolstian proportions. And is as tragic a figure. Harriet Chance, This Is Your Life, indeed.

I wasn't sure how I'd settle into the structure of alternating chapters told in 2nd-person POV by a game show host persona who spools out the knotted mess of Harriet's past in a spirited play-by-play, with a traditional 3rd person POV recounting Harriet's present existence as a widow embarking alone on a cruise to Alaska. Would it be too schticky? Too meta? Is this that 21st century White Male Author Too Clever By Half thing that turns me away from other writers whose first names also happen to be Jonathan?

Well, I settled in just fine. Because this particular Jonathan combines a huge heart with deft writing with humor with empathy with unforgettable characters with superb storytelling. Yep, he's all that, and a bag of chips.

The breezy style of This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance belies the profundity of its themes and the dark, dark secrets of Harriet's past. It's not so much the revelation of these secrets—you figure out pretty quickly what's gone down across the decades of one misbegotten life—it's that you end up nodding your head knowingly; these are people in your life, and you get so darn attached to the outcomes.

Funny, I hadn't intended to read another book that featured Alzheimer's; I'm a bit played out on that theme, personally. And yet I found more soul, more of a connection to the raging fury and heartbreak of dementia in the few pages it is revealed here than I did in a recently-read epic where the disease played out over hundreds of pages. It has something to do with the power of humor: in the right hands, humor becomes a release, a relief, a mirror we can bear to look into.

Evison fully inhabits his elderly heroine. It takes considerable skill not to let a carefully-designed novel take over the narrative, so that all the reader sees is the clever framework. No, what we see is Harriet. Finally, the invisible old woman takes her well-deserved place in our imaginations. Maybe now we'll look more closely at the souls who cross our paths in the real world.

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my latest library book and I enjoyed it but was left with sadness. Sad for Harriet, sad for her daughter Carolyn (although I have hope for Carolyn), sad that children aren't treasured the way they should be treasured.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Harriet. What a messed up, mixed up life she led. And what awful people she led it with, including her husband, her parents, her 'uncle', her best friend and her children. All of them! Abysmal people.
Regardless of this the book is utterly charming and a most enjoyable read. Funny too more often than not although there are some heart breaking moments as well. I have not done an Alaskan cruise yet but this story put it on my bucket list! I am sure I could get a lot more out of it than Harriet did and I really want to see those glaciers.
A short, entertaining book and well worth a read:)

[Jennifer Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

What's the Point?

I found this novel to be well-written but depressing and meaningless. I was craving humor and some sort of purpose in this examination of a woman's life, and those cravings remain unsatisfied. But I did finish the book, which says something about the easy writing style.

Harriet Chance is a 79-year-0ld widow who learns her husband booked an Alaskan cruise for them before his death. She takes the cruise alone, much to the consternation of her grown son and daughter. Her health is failing and she has many regrets.

The story bounces from present day to points throughout her life, through the point of view of a rather nasty and cruel narrator. I wasn't sure if the narrator represented death like in The Book Thief? Every flashback seemed to cover a mistake or regret, without relief or later character growth.



One reason I didn't connect to Harriet is personal. My parents are both 79 but they act MUCH younger than Harriet. I guess I'm lucky to have such young-at-heart parents, and it made it hard for her character to seem realistic to me. Everything else in the story is so steeped in realism--the strained mother-daughter relationship, the traditional gender roles, the struggles with weight and alcohol, the failed career dreams, the family dysfunction and infidelity--that I wondered why I was wasting my time reading a story when I could just watch the people around me suffer through life.

Hopefully we'll enjoy our next book club selection more!

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd rate this 3.5 stars.

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

At 79 years old, perhaps Harriet Chance hasn't quite lived the life she imagined. Her husband Bernard has been dead nearly two years but he has recently been showing up again (and not just when she's alone), and their encounters seem very real, despite the fact that everyone else thinks she's losing her marbles. When she finds out that just before his death, Bernard entered a drawing for an Alaskan cruise—and one—Harriet sees this as a chance to scatter his ashes and perhaps move on into her twilight years.

Convincing her children (who are doting on her for the wrong reasons) that she's perfectly capable of going on a cruise by herself is one thing; actually managing the cruise at her age is another. So what if she indulges in a little more wine than she should? She's entitled. But when a long-held secret is divulged, Harriet is utterly unprepared for how it will cause her to question everything she has held dear for 60 years, and even more, she's totally thrown by the surprise appearance of her estranged daughter on the cruise.

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! is a rollicking ride through all of the moments, big and small, that brought Harriet to her current state. As further clarity is given to incidents in her childhood, throughout her marriage and raising her children, and caring for Bernard through his decline, you begin to learn that Harriet isn't as blameless as she seems for incidents in her life, but she's also not the only one responsible. This is a book about soldiering through disappointment when your dreams don't work out as you had hoped, the sacrifices we are forced to make in life and how we handle them, how our behavior and the choices we make can haunt us, and how love can both surprise and injure us.

I loved Jonathan Evison's first book, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving , and this book had a similar banter-ish tone to it. This is both a humorous and emotional book, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes surprising, sometimes endearing. The narrator of the book kept referring to the way that each episode in Harriet's life would come up at random as like a pinball machine, and that is the way it felt at times. It was hard to keep the way her life flowed straight when things came up willy-nilly in that way, but although some of the incidents in her life were predictable, Harriet is still an interesting, albeit slightly flawed, character, even if everything that happened wasn't her fault.

I enjoyed this book, although not as much as Evison's first, but it's definitely and interesting and somewhat heartfelt look at the near-totality of a woman's life, and how each event somehow led to another.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "this is your life" to 78 yr old Harriett, who lost her husband some months prior. This goes back and forth at different stages of Harriet's life and her relationships with family and others. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Evison’s fourth novel, a widow in her seventies relives the ups and downs of her life while on an Alaskan cruise to scatter her husband’s ashes. Chapters alternate between a third-person account of the cruise and a second-person survey of Harriet’s past, delivered in the format of TV’s This Is Your Life. The narration is fresh and effective because the gradual revelations undermine Harriet’s elderly persona in such surprising ways. She is an out-of-the-ordinary but believable protagonist who, like all of us, has a mixture of victories and disappointments behind her. This is a charming novel about learning to reckon with the past.

(Non-subscribers can read an excerpt of my full review at BookBrowse.)

[Annet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bittersweet book, a heartbreaker really, though humorous too, written in a special sort of way. Like this: ‘Look at you Harriet Chance, so diligent, so fastidious in your attention to detail!’
And… ‘Well Harriet, it’s come to this… You’ve lost control of your life. Or Bernard’s life, anyway. Probably a blessing, don’t you think? Really, it ought to come as a relief, when you get right down to it…At least they’re not trying to take your house. At least they’re not coming for you…’.
It’s like the writer is addressing Harriet in a wise, didactic sort of way. The writer being Harriet herself probably... It’s a story that makes you laugh and cry.

Harriet, a 78-year old lady, lost her husband of years Bernard and takes a cruise to Alaska to scatter his ashes. And… look back at her life. A cruise her husband apparently planned she found out after a call she receives. "Hmph. Alaska", "she says, straightening up. What on earth were you thinking dear? Her estranged daughter Caroline joins her unexpectedly when her long year friend Mildred pulls out of the trip, for obvious reasons we learn later. The story alternates between Harriet at 78, but also as a baby, in her twenties, thirties, fourties, fifties… And we get to know Harriet, her family and her life. A life of abuse, forbidden relationships, joy and bore, careers and lost careers, estranged children and spouses, friendships betrayed, a husband estranged by alzheimer’s in the end…. To be honest, it’s not very nice, what we hear and witness. But Harriet is seeking redemption and is looking for a fresh start, her thoughts, regrets, stubbornness and determinations are heartfelt and honest….

Together with her daughter and Kurt Pickens, an overweight sleeveless shirt guy (shirts with hilarious crude titles such as: “I’m a virgin (but this is an old shirt) “) who joins their estranged party on the cruise journey to Alaska. While her dead husband Bernhard visits her as a sort of ‘ghost’ on board and exchanges short observations about their life with her.
A laugh and a tear. Yes… I did cry a bit in the end. That’s a sign of a good book for me.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars: “While the days unfold, one after the other, and the numbers all move in one direction, our lives are not linear, Harriet. We are the sum of moments and reflections, actions and decisions, triumphs, failures, and yearnings, all of it held together, inexplicable, miraculously, really, by memory and association.”

Jonathan Evison has penned a clever, entertaining, perceptive novel about a woman who plods through life without much introspection. She’s like Judith Bunker: devoted, dutiful, and unquestioning. Evison chooses to tell his story in third person, alternating chapters with the linear life of Harriet, and chapters that tell pivotal times in her past. These “past” chapters are told in what I felt like would be an announcer, or game show host. The announcer/host talks directly to Harriet, many times giving her a bit of grief for how she handled her life. It’s really a dark story yet it has insightful comic relief. It’s like life: at times what appears to be horrible has a bright side if looked at appropriately. Evison is a genius at showing us how we all muddle along, trying to do our best, and screwing up most everything. You cannot read this novel without realizing how much compassion we all need.

Harriet’s seemingly mundane life is anything but. Everyone has stories and Evison shows us how we discount most people in our lives. He reminds us that generally nothing is as it appears.

This is also a great mother/daughter relationship book. Harriet and her daughter who have historically endured a stormy relationship find their way to forgiveness. It’s never too late to forgive, especially ourselves. I love this gem of a book. I highly recommend it.

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost didn’t request this book because there seems to be a plethora of books these past few years of older women looking back across their lives. I tried several and didn’t like them, at all. But the reviews for this book, from some of my Goodreads friends were just so outstanding I gave it a shot.

This was a wonderful, shining, inventive, wonderfully written gift of a book. How a male author, a first time read of his for me, can tell a story in 2nd and 3rd person of a young and old woman shows incredible talent, forethought and wisdom, along with a large measure of humor. I think for me the humor is what was what was so captivating and encouraged me to continue reading on and on until I was finished and satisfied. Yes, this has a very satisfying ending.

As everyone knows by now this is the story of Harriet Chance, a 78 y/o lady who gets a call several months after her husband has died, telling her that he had won a trip to Alaska but never used the tickets. At first Harriet has no desire to make the cruise but her children talk her into it. She then asks her friend of many years to join her who at first acquiesces but then pulls out at the last minute, for some pretty momentous reasons as we learn later.

The story goes back and forth in time from the present as far back as Harriet as a baby, then pretty much every decade of her life. She hasn’t always had the easiest life, there has been abuse, estranged children, forbidden relationships. But she always continues to march on, no matter the screw ups or down times. Even during the cruise when she finds out some things about her son that she hadn’t even guessed at, she is always forgiving, always marching on.

After hesitating about reading this book I am now selling it to everyone I know, it’s that good.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this wonderful gem of a read, simply wonderful

[Beverly · Rating 1 out of 5]

If, as the author says in his afterward, he intended to write a sympathetic version of the pre feminist/silent generation woman, than this book is a travesty. Although the protagonist comes off as a victim in part, she seems largely responsible for her mistakes, even as she is being victimized as an adult. Worse, the This is Your Life vintage TV show framework enables a satirical and contemptuous tone that is nothing less than cruel. Unlike its advertisement, this novel is way lacking in compassion and the affirmation of a life. Maybe two stars because it kept me reading, but it only deserves one.

[Christopher Swann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I love about Jonathan Evison's stories is his absolute commitment to the possibility of redemption. His stories are all about men and women who screw up and then march on, determined to try to do something to make up for whatever they've done. They break hearts, including their own, and then fumble for the Crazy Glue. How Evison gets us to both cry and laugh at them is a mystery, but it's one I like trying to solve. No matter how different each of his books is from his others, that narrative of redemption--a messy, ill-timed, poignant, at times hilarious affair--is at the core of his novels. Harriet Chance is no different in that regard. The story's structure, with its narrative voice, jumping around in time, and slow piecemeal reconstruction of Harriet's life, could have been annoying and cheesy in the hands of a less-skilled writer, but it works here. If he keeps this up, Evison risks becoming our 21st-century Dickens.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I picked up this book at the library, I thought it would be sort of a coming of age story for a retired woman. I thought Harriet would make some realizations about her life, and then get to make changes to make her "golden years" more enjoyable. While she did seem to realize many things - none of them good - there wasn't much more to the book. I liked that the story jumped throughout her life, though I found the narrator kind of annoying - especially in the flashbacks. And while I liked that she got to "talk" to her husband, I found the chapters with just his character to be confusing and too under developed to really matter or for me to care what happened to him in the end. Aside from one character, I pretty much found everyone to be unlikable, and I felt like they could have been more developed given the fact that the book took place over just a couple of weeks really. I picked this up thinking it would be a quick read, but the storyline made it difficult to get through.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel reviews the life of a seventy-eight-year-old woman named Harriet Chance. It is a life filled with many regrets and disappointments. As the book progresses additional layers of difficult history are revealed.

She was born ten years too early to benefit from the liberating effects of the book Feminine Mystic (published 1963) so she dutifully gave up a budding career and got married. Her enduring patience managed to allow the marriage to survive in spite of her husband's difficult personality. In his later years he suffered from Alzheimer's which she patiently cared for as long as she could. His death brought relief for her, but then she learned that her husband had carried on an affair with another woman for over forty years, and he had apparently saved his courteous behavior for that elicit relationship in contrast to the way he treated Harriet. And to top it off, this other woman was a person who Harriet thought was her friend.

That was bad enough but then additional layers of Harriet's background are revealed. Her relationship with her parents was strained, and as a young person she had experienced sexual abuse from an uncle. Then the reader is shocked to be informed that her daughter was fathered by an unwanted sexual encounter, not her husband. She kept this a secret from her husband and her daughter. Near the end of the book she reveals this history to her daughter.

As this story drew near its end I thought surely something optimistic or uplifting would occur. There is some resolution of feelings in Harriet's relationship with her daughter. But overall I experienced this book as a downer.

The omniscient narrative speaks to Harriet in second person voice bouncing through time, first stating the age, year and then proceeding to say, "Harriet, then you did ___, or ____ happened to you." Exceptions to this second person voice occurred when her dead husband shows up and there's dialog between the two.

At first I as a reader took this to be an indication of Harriet's dementia, but then the book provides a couple scenes showing her husband's afterlife (presumably heaven) where he has to bargain for permission to return to earth to try to straighten things out. So I guess the author is trying to let the reader know that her husband's spirit is indeed returning from the dead to speak to her.

I'm trying to think of what sort of person to whom I would recommend this book. Well, perhaps an older reader who feels their life has been miserable might be made to feel better by reading this story about Harriet who had a more miserable life.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet Chance is 78 years old and has been taking care of her husband Bernard and her children for a very long time. Now her children are doing their own thing and her husband has passed away. When she receives a prize her late husband won in a raffle to go on an Alaskan cruise, Harriet Chance takes the opportunity not knowing what will happen next will send her on a topsy-turvy adventure. Want to know more? Read this book for yourself and find out.

This was a pretty good read. I enjoy reading stories about cruises and families. If you do too, then check this book out for yourself at your local library and wherever books are sold.

[Catherine McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of an advanced reader copy.

Harriet Chance is 78 years old, widowed, and about to learn something that puts her entire life into question. After receiving a strange phone call informing her that her deceased husband had won a cruise but never cashed in the voucher (why did she not know this?), she decides to take he cruise with a good friend. Her friend backs out, but Harriet is undeterred and goes it alone. The cruise gets off to a shaky start with an unfortunate crab leg incident, and never really settles into a relaxing vacation for poor Harriet. Between the big revelation, visitations from her dead husband, and the appearance of her worried daughter partway into the cruise, Harriet is thrust into a reckoning of her life - including a few secrets of her own.

Harriet's story is told in snippets of the past and present, which works well as she reflects on what was and what could have been had things been different. She is endearing, but not without faults of her own; sometimes the victim and sometimes the perpetrator of wrongs done to others. Harriet is foremost human, and Evison has spun a tale that perfectly captures the joys and regrets of a 20th century woman's life. Harriet could be my mother, your grandmother... they have probably all experienced some aspect of Harriet's life as part of their own.

There's another aspect of this book that I really appreciate, as somebody familiar with the geographic region where this book takes place - accuracy. It might not mean anything to anybody outside of western Washington, but there really is a Denny's just off I-5 not too far south of Bellingham. I can easily imagine an elderly woman with her daughter stopping to eat there as they made their way north, looking totally normal to observers but experiencing the onset of the family crisis that is the center of this story.

One thing you is guaranteed when you read any book by Jonathan Evison - it won't be anything like his other books!

[Kalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Goodreads reviewer comments about her "Evison scale" and on my Evison scale, All About Lulu is the gold standard for me, at 4.5 and I don't know how another book will ever touch that one, but This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! comes close.

This is classic Evison--touching and thought-provoking without being sappy or sentimental, or on the flip side, too heavy. Evison never seems to take himself or his characters too seriously, even while broaching serious and life-altering subjects.

I don't want to talk about the story too much or how it unfolds because Evison's style is clever and readers should experience it themselves but it his latest story is authentic and a bit messy, just like life. Everyone has their secrets; everyone has their trials. Harriet Chance is no different.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is it lately about male authors who channel elderly females -- Stewart O’Nan’s Emily Alone, Brian Morton’s Florence Gordon and now Jonathan Evison’s This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance.

I was going to write this one off as yet another in a quest of understanding women in the twilight of their lives. The serio-comedic, deceptively breezy tone uses the American Reality documentary, This Is Your Life, as its overriding conceit. In that show, which aired on NBC in the 1950s, the host surprises a guest and proceeds to take them down “memory lane” in front of a live audience, with guest appearances by friends and family.

But somehow, about one-third of the way through, the book began to grow on me and I started to truly care about Harriet Chance. The theme of the book is universal: “We are the sum of moments and reflections, actions and decisions, triumphs, failures and yearnings, all of it held together, inexplicably, miraculously, really, by memory and association.”

In the first several pages, Harriet comes across as an almost stereotypical 78-year-old, embarking on her first cruise alone – to Alaska -- after the death of her husband Bernard. She could be Every Woman, brought up in an era where women focused mainly on husband and children (she has two), subjugating their own needs, hiding behind polite masks of “dears” and “darlings”, afraid to shake the status quo.

Gradually, though, the real, flawed Harriet begins to emerge. In a series of flashback chapters, which jump all over the place (from the time she was a toddler to her formative years to just a year before her husband’s death), the real Harriet is revealed. We learn that secrets have been kept – all the way around – and that complexity lies beneath each person’s simple veneer.

The book is at its best when it explores mother-daughter relationships. Harriet’s encounters with her grown-up and damaged mid-age daughter, Caroline, ring achingly true. The book’s cover – a cruise ship riding across seemingly placid waves – may say it all: “Still waters run deep.” My rating: 3.5.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is darkness in the overall theme of “This is Your Life, Harriet Chance” but the overall feeling is much lighter than the story of Harriet Chance’s journey. I didn’t really mind the fact that Evison has his characters jumping back and forth across time throughout, but I did notice it at first.

Harriet is a sweet, very likeable woman who, to family and friends, can’t seem to “let go” of her deceased husband, Bernie. The kids, her friends, everyone it seems thinks Harriet is going crazy, but Harriet knows that Bernie keeps returning to tell her things, so he must have a reason. And when she finds out that he won tickets for an Alaskan Cruise, she feels she must go, that Bernie is to telling to try something new with this posthumous gift. So she packs up her things, his ashes, and Bon Voyage, Harriet Chance!

Well, maybe not exactly the voyage she was looking for, or the one Bernie was hoping for originally. Harriet leaves her cabin to mingle for dinner, and drinks, and to socialize with more than just Bernie, perhaps. Harriet gets more than she bargained for on this cruise, but not all of it is welcome. Despite this, Evison manages to keep enough lightheartedness, humor and sweetness throughout.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is just something so charming about this book that I just couldn't put it down! 78-year-old Harriet discovers that her husband had won an Alaskan cruise before his passing and, with an expiration date looming on the prize, she decides to take that cruise with her best friend. When her best friend unexpectedly bails on her, Harriet finds herself on a boat out to sea, but she isn't alone thanks to her husband's visits.

We grow to know Harriet in a unique way as chapters alternate with a, "This is Your Life," game show theme and we jump along the timeline of Harriet learning more about all of the life experiences that have shaped her, the people who have betrayed her, how she was treated when she was a child, how she felt as her marriage and parenting were failing, and what it was like for her to care for a husband who mentally was no longer there.

The book twists and turns, secrets are revealed and an unexpected guest joins Harriet on the cruise. It was a beautiful story that makes you consider what your own, "This Is Your Life," show might look like.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this when it was $1.20 for Kindle, because Harriet goes on an Alaskan cruise. (I am going on one this summer.)

It was okay, a quick read, non-linear with each chapter told in a "this is your life!" tone. Family secrets, money grubbing children, and one dead but not gone spouse. It didn't have too much of what I usually hate about older characters, but I wanted to care about all of them more.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching up…

This was a Library Book Club selection first read and discussed in 2016. In revisiting this book, it is nice to recall some of the things I enjoyed most about this book.

For one…Harriet Chance felt like an “everywoman” reflecting real strength as well as common human foibles. Which made this story a perfect discussion book, with characters that stood out, and provided opportunities for readers to stop, take a moment and reflect on what we were reading.

Secondly…There was a creativity in how the author showcased some of his characters.

As an example…Harriet’s late husband, Bernard seems to show up throughout the novel.

Yet…As readers we are not sure if these appearances are “real” or figments of Harriet’s imagination.

Thirdly…Readers also get to join Harriet on an Alaskan cruise with her daughter Caroline, forcing the two to confront their issues.

And lastly...Mostly…Memory plays a large part in Harriet’s story. To the point that the novel’s characters seem haunted by memories – good and bad.

This story was…Warm. Heart-felt. Thoughtful. Easily readable.

[Greg Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

(First appeared at http://www.thenewdorkreviewofbooks.co...)

Normally, I'd avoid a novel about a 78-year-old woman like, well, a real-life 78-year-old woman in a grocery store line. But a novel about a 78-year-old woman written by Jonathan Evison? I'm all in! And this is great.

Harriet Chance has lived a long and fruitful life, and soon after Bernard, her husband of fifty-plus years, dies, she learns he'd won an Alaska cruise, which he'd never collected, at a silent auction. She decides YOLO, and goes, even after her friend Mildred bails on her, and her two grown (and scheming) children, Skip and Caroline, try to talk her out of it.

Along the way, though, we delve back into Harriet's life in short snippets of story (told in the style of the radio program "This Is Your Life"; "Look at you Harriet, a grown woman!", i.e.) that show her at various formative stages. All this gives context for the real-time action, and the revelation of a secret about Bernard that Harriet discovers not long after she's embarked on the cruise. It's a secret that changes everything...dum dum dum.

But the intriguing thing here is that we soon learn that Harriet harbors her own skeleton(s), and isn't completely blameless. Evison's revelations are carefully placed and tug us along through the narrative at just the perfect times. It's a near-perfectly constructed novel, is what I'm saying.

One of my favorite parts of this novel is how it subtly scolds readers for our (or maybe just my?) stereotypes of and annoyances with the elderly. Indeed, there's even a scene, at a time in the novel when we're at maximum sads for Harriet, when she struggles with her coupons in the grocery store, and the line behind her gets impatient. I'm not going to lie, I was a little ashamed of myself when I read that part.

Overall, though, this is quick, charming, delightful, if often sad, read. As was the case with The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, Evison's terrific 2012 novel (soon to be a movie with Paul Rudd, by the way), Evison is fantastic at somehow making his readers happy while reading a sad story. You'll read this quickly, and if you're like me, you'll really dig it.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I'm in the minority of not enjoying this at all. I thought the author seemed mean spirited in his portrayal of Harriet. I found it to be depressing.

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a mashup of the old TV series This Is Your Life and Topper with Frederik Backman's Britt-Marie Was Here, this novel was predictable but fun. A smart-alecky omniscient writer narrator tells us and 78-year-old Harriet Chance how she got to where she is.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The problem wasn't that I guessed all the plot revelations way before they happened. And it wasn't the dour character of Harriet, who felt familiar and flawed, which is something I usually love. The story involves talking to dead people, which I've been known to do, and there is a life review—a habit of mine—so I should have been a huge fan. I think the problem was that the smart aleck omniscient narrator doesn't seem to like, empathize with, or respect Harriet, and the direction of his (the voice has a distinct male feeling and does not feel remotely like an alter-ego Harriet which, toward the end, seems intended) flippant finger-pointing made me, the reader, a voyeur. This narrator seems to have a complete understanding of Harriet's psychology—an understanding which could result in compassion—but he used his knowledge harshly (which felt particularly cruel when he dealt with her childhood pain). Toward the end, he diagnoses Harriet with "contempt," and I found myself wondering if there is some of that in the narrator—so much so that I actually wanted defend Harriet from him and get to know her without him. Still, the book was well written, clever, and entertaining enough to read to the end.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I started this book yesterday and finished it today so it must have been good! This was a very quick read. I like books about people’s lives, the secrets, the regrets and the lies - so this book was right up my alley. There were some laugh out loud moments, but overall, I found the book sad, as the reader is taken through Harriet’s life which, I would say was not a particularly happy life. This book might not be for everyone but I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.