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    This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
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    This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
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    This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
    Ebook269 pages3 hours

    This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

    By Jonathan Evison

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    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, 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 big-hearted novel with a supremely endearing heroine at its centre. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of an unforgettable woman with great warmth, humanity and humour. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of family relationships, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! is a surprising tale of acceptance, forgiveness and, ultimately, healing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 8, 2015
    ISBN9781443442954
    Author

    Jonathan Evison

    JONATHAN EVISON is an American writer known for his novels All About Lulu (winner of the Washington State Book Award), West of Here (New York Times bestseller, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Booklist Editor’s Choice Award) and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (currently in development for film). In 2009 and 2011 he was nominated by the American Book Association as “Most Engaging Author.” In his teens, Evison was a 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 with his family. His latest novel, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, will be published in September 2015.

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    Reviews for This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

    3.5/5

    203 ratings32 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Extremely well told story. I usually dislike the jumping back and forth between time periods, but the author really made it work well, and it enabled several surprise twists.

      The best part was how realistic Harriet's family and their relationships were, including her parents.
    • 4/5
      Harriet Chance is a 78 year old widow with several problems. First, her recently deceased husband, Bernard, keeps showing up but only Harriet can see or hear him. Second,her body is declining and her son and daughter seem determined to restrict her lifestyle. Finally, she finds out that her husband had entered and win a contest for a free Alaskan cruise. Harriet decides to honor Bernard's wishes by taking the cruise. Little does she know that over the course of the next week much of what she remembers of her life and a good many things she has tried to forget will re-emerge in startling ways. Witty and engaging, at times funny and also sad. A good read.
    • 4/5
      A fine book with which to begin the new year, as it involves a "life-review" of sorts, patterned (in part) after the old TV show, "This Is Your Life." If that sounds all too cute, I urge you to press on as Evison manages this territory with a gracefulness that appears effortless. Parenting, marriage, aging, family, loyalty, secrets, honesty, sacrifice, caregiving (I also enjoyed Evison's novel: The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving)...In a relatively short novel, all these areas are visited through the life and memories of Harriet as she takes an Alaskan cruise. All aboard!
    • 3/5
      It's one of those books you come across a lot these days, those written in a breezy, familiar, "readable" style with lots of humor, and lots of breaks and shifts in the action -- but in the context of an underlying topic that's grimmer than expected. I'm not convinced that this is a good thing. Sometimes that style carries you along fluidly, but more often the conflict between tone and material comes to feel unsettling and ill-chosen. And I think this is one of the latter cases. But I'm a hard grader. On the positive side, it's well-written and a fast read, and sometimes really quite fun. Also, some of the subsidiary characters transcend their small roles: Kurt Pickens, come on down.
    • 4/5
      This book deals with some potentially heavy subject matter. Harriet Chance is a very recent widow, aged 78. Shortly after the death of her husband, Bernard Chance, she receives a call that her husband had entered and won an Alaskan Cruise for two. Harriet was unaware of this , and it comes as a great surprise to her. In the course of deciding whether to take that cruise on her own or with a friend, secrets about her husband's life come to light. She and her husband have two adult children, who also figure in the story.However, Jonathan Evison has a breezy, often humourous way of dealing with sorrow and grief.A most enjoyable read.4 Stars
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed some parts of the book but not others. Mixed feelings.
    • 3/5
      I finished this book only because I kept thinking Harriet's life had to get better. Such a sad story. Somehow the review I read before choosing this book made her cruise experience seem humorous. I read the book while on a Holland America cruise and am having a much happier time than she did.
    • 2/5
      I'd hoped for heartwarming, but ended up with gimmicky and a bit cumbersome, with really no character I actually could get behind, even poor Harriet. I think that maybe in a different format, without the "This is your life" TV show shtick, I might have liked it more. I came away depressed rather than thoughtful.Tags: thank-you-charleston-county-library, thought-i-was-gonna-like, skim-read-til-the-end
    • 2/5
      From the flyleaf synopsis, I guess I was expecting a bit different book. Instead, the voiceover narrator (similar to the disembodied voice who talks about George Bailey) ping-ponged through events in Harriet's life. Everything culminates in an Alaskan cruise Harriet decides to take, discovering that her husband Bernard had set it all up previous to becoming ill. Sadly, it's all a tale as old a time.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like this book more than I did. I didn't like the way the chapters were arranged in random chronological order. After her husband dies, Harriet Chance learns the truth about the life she thought she had been living for 78 years. So many people and events were not as they seemed during her life. In some ways, what she learns makes her a better person, but more often, learning about what really happened behind her back just makes her mad and drink more.
    • 5/5
      I am in awe of Jonathan Evison's ability to understand women as well as he must be able to do as evidenced in this book. This is Harriet Chances's life moving back and forth in time from birth to her 78th year. It is compelling to read, but not a walk in the park, especially for those of us of a certain age. It will stay with me and be on my mind for a very long time.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Harriet Chance, 78, has decided to take the Alaskan cruise that her deceased husband, Bernard, won in a raffle. Her friend, Mildred, backs out at the last minute and her estranged daughter joins her after the cruise has started. This is the story of a life (like our own?) that did not turn out as expected. Harriet is a wonderful endearing character. I've already put Jonathan Evison's other books on my list! Definitely recommended.
    • 4/5
      Harriet Chance finds herself living with Bernard, her dead husband's ghost. With her friends, children and pastor believing she has lost her marbles, Harriet decides to take the cruise that she hadn't known Bernard had booked before dying. Failed relationships, betrayal and sour grapes make for an entertaining but sad tale.
    • 5/5
      Thanks to Librarything for a free copy of this book. This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance is heartwarming, sad and incredibly funny at times. The novel consists of chapters alternating between the past told in second person and the present told in third person. The date and Harriet's age are clearly marked at the beginning of each chapter so there is no confusion as to the time period. I really became invested in Harriet's character and felt a great deal of sympathy for her despite her many flaws. I enjoyed Evison's writing style as he skillfully adds some humour to lighten the dark moments, particularly with the character Wayan's little digs about the crab legs incident. All in all, a very enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      I'm so glad I happened upon this wonderful novel. Harriet Chance's life is presented to us in scenes from her life, bouncing back and forth between the past and the future. Her deceased husband appears, only to her, and tries to make amends for injuries he's caused her in the past. Her daughter joins her on a trip and the truth that has been unspoken for many years begins to heal their relationship and help her daughter. I could see my mother and I in this book. (I was always her "prickly" child because I told the truth whether it was pleasant or not. In this case both Helen and her daugher are "prickly". ) It's well written and somewhat reminiscent of Kate Atkins' "Life After Life". A really satisfying read.
    • 4/5
      This is your review, Harriet Chance. No way to 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.
    • 4/5
      I will say that I've never read a book structured like this one. When I first started, I was a bit put off by the "This is your Life' introductions and TV host narrations. But after a few chapters of getting into the flow of the book, I found that I loved the way the story was presented. Harriet Chance is a 78 year old widow who is talking to her dead husband on a regular basis. She finds out that he has won a cruise to Alaska so she decides to take it as a memory to him, even though her children feel like she shouldn't. The author bounces around in the chapters - Harriet at 78, Harriet at 20, Harriet at 51, Harriet at 76 and we learn her story (and the rest of the characters) in bits and pieces. Just when you think you have someone figured out, a new chapter comes along to shed a different light on them. All of the characters are a combination of the good and bad decisions in their lives. The author sums the book up near the end with this 'While the days unfold, one after the other, and the numbers all move in one direction, our lives are not linear.'I definitely recommend this book and I plan to look into earlier books by this author.Thanks to Algonquin Books for an advance reading copy
    • 4/5
      Thank you to Goodreads and Algonquin Books for this delightful book, won in the Goodreads Giveaway. This Is Your Life Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison was a very pleasurable read. Funny, bittersweet, and honest, Evison paints a very human portrait of Harriet Chance in her 78th year as she examines her marriage, hopes, dreams, and disappointments. The story is presented in a unique way. The chapters alternate between a narrative reminiscent of the TV show "This is Your Life!" that spans Harriets early years and the present day first person account of the Alaskan cruise she is on. As the earlier years of her life are presented you form an understanding of the the person she is and what has shaped her choices and her relationships with her late husband and children. Throughout the story Harriet sees and speaks to her dead husband and is forced to address her own mortality. I loved the originality of this book and plan to read other Evison works.
    • 4/5
      Read from June 13 to 27, 2015This is the story of a life, Harriet's life. Her life is filled with all the things lives are filled with: choices, consequences, mistakes, miracles, good days, bad days, old friends, new friends, husbands, children. We visit Harriet's past through "this is your life" style chapters and are with her in the present as she decides to go on a cruise that her now-deceased husband bid on a couple of years before. Evison has a way of creating such vividly real characters. Harriet is far from perfect and I loved her more for her imperfections. Great read for anyone that wants a little humor with a side of sad (and sometimes happy) reality.
    • 4/5
      This book's superficially light tone hides a dark heart. While this lighter tone and the narrative style may not appeal to every one, I think Harriet Chance has the potential to introduce Evison's work to a much larger audience than he has seen previously.
    • 3/5
      Despite the glowing blurbs from well-known authors, this is a frequently told story of an elderly woman on her last fling, with some non-shocking revelations and a ghostly dead husband. Many of the life experiences - Alzheimer's, problems with children, lack of personal satisfaction and career achievement - are commonplace. The author expresses his desire to pay tribute to many of the unacknowledged heroic women out there and in his life, but it's a letdown that his narrative is so predictable. I'll take Olive Kitttridge any day.
    • 5/5
      How can you not like Harriet? And I loved her expressions...." Yes, dear..." "No, dear...." But what a conundrum was almost forced upon her---to say nothing of what she was hiding herself. Harriet was living two lives---one imaginary one and the other her life which she felt was a lie----having them meet? Quite a book!
    • 4/5
      After Harriet's husband of 55 years dies, she learns that he had arranged an Alaskan cruise. 78 years old, she sets off by herself and learns of a secret that her husband kept for 40 years.
    • 4/5
      After Harriet Chance's husband of over 50 years dies, she discovers that he has booked a cruise to Alaska for them to take and, impulsively (and against the wishes of her children), she decides to take it. At first she plans to take her best friend, Mildred. However, when Mildred backs out of the cruise at the last minute, Harriet decides to go on her own, thinking that the trip will give her a new lease on life at age 78.Of course, things do not go as planned. Th cruise becomes, in many ways, a reflection on her life: what it was, and what it was not, along with some disturbing revelations that occur on the way.Part comedy, part dysfunctional love story and part a bittersweet narrative on growing older, author Jonathan Evison has created a character who all women of a certain age will recognize and identify with - at least a little bit.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 2/5
      fiction. Scenes from a 78-year-old's life. I get that there's a major twist to this story, and the premise is mildly interesting--but only that. I was not hooked by page 62 and decided to move on to a new book.
    • 4/5
      Harriet Chance, accompanied by appearances of her late husband Bernard, sets off on an Alaskan cruise, hoping to find a new lease on life. The omniscient narrator skips backward and forward in Harriet’s history, revealing the hopes, relationships, and experiences that make Harriet who she is.
      ‘If we’ve learned one thing digging up all these old bones, dusting them off, and holding them to the light, we’ve learned this: 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, inexplicably, miraculously, really, by memory and association.”
    • 1/5
      I hated this book. It is smarmy and filled with hackneyed platitudes about the best things in life, and about the experiences and crushed aspirations of 50s/60s housewives. The characters are one dimensional and utterly inauthentic. The titular Harriet is filled with regrets and Chardonnay, scarred by the evildoing of the adults in her young life (I won't say more since I guess there is a bit of a spoiler here, but if you have watched a Lifetime movie you know what happened.) The next generation (our boomers/Gen x'ers) are shifty and selfish. The awful fat man with he vulgar t-shirts who learns that he is worthwhile and immediately pushes aside the pork loin for a nice chopped salad! Oh, I almost forgot the Grey's Anatomy Denny crap with the "I'm here for you" ghost. Jonathan Evison knows nothing about women, and most especially about mothers and daughters or women's friendships. Though he left no cliché unturned, gave voice to every Feminine Mystique assertion (no disrespect to Betty Friedan, who spoke for millions who had their voices silenced, but what is in that book was not enough to define a full and complex character) and Adult Children of Alcoholics support group slogan, he got just about everything wrong. Just... no.
    • 2/5
      A life in full is always a worthy object for a novel. Here, Jonathan Evison presents the life of Harriet Chance. He does this through a series of snapshots of Harriet at different points throughout her life (she is 78 as the novel commences) in a manner not unlike the old television program, “This Is Your Life.” The snapshots jump about in time and are never more than a few pages in the voice of an omniscient narrator. In the present day scenes do we see Harriet interact with her son and daughter, her best friend, Mildred, and, curiously, with her recently deceased husband, Bernard. There are also a few chapters devoted to Bernard in the afterlife in some kind of way station from whence he makes forbidden dashes back to the real world to interact with Harriet. For the first third of the novel all of this proceeds in anodyne fashion. Then things take a serious turn.The novel changes key significantly when a secret about Bernard is revealed. It jumps another octave when we learn through one of the snapshots something unsettling about the provenance of Harriet’s daughter. And things get very dark indeed when a history of Harriet’s sexual abuse by a family friend is revealed. What is odd in each case, however, is the voice of narrator. Stepping out of the neutral, insipid, mode, the narrator proffers judgements of Harriet that might surprise some readers. Or at least it surprised me. And this brings to light a general problem with Evison’s structure for the novel.Because this is a life seen in brief snapshots, the reader never gets an opportunity to see Harriet in context. We don’t see her develop from one point to the next. And we are forced to rely solely on the viewpoint of the narrator. When that narrator suddenly starts chastising Harriet, even for actions which as a child she most certainly could not be held responsible, we have no resources with which to ascertain whether these judgements are at all fair. We simply have to take them as read. But that is a peculiar place to take your reader. Far from presenting a life and letting the reader reach their own judgements, Evison has decided to force the issue.To be fair, I think that it is the structure itself that has tempted Evison to forego his better instincts as a novelist. But then the decision to use the snapshot view of a life was his as well, so he can’t be absolved completely. In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether this works for you. It didn’t for me.
    • 4/5
      This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Author, Jonathan Evison; Narrator, Susan BoyceHarriet Nathan was born November 4, 1936. On April 16, 1959 she became Mrs. Bernard Chance and gave up her ambition to become a lawyer. She had been ambitious, but it was a time when women were mostly homemakers, mothers, secretaries or teachers. Harriet and Bernard had two children, Skipper and Caroline. If not a perfect life, at least all seemed right with the world. She was aptly named since as her life rolled out in the novel, we were privy to her efforts to explore and view all of her past mistakes, rethink them and make amends where she could. Other characters did the same. It also gave her the chance to discover the truth about previously kept secrets which affected her life profoundly.Secrets and traumas were revealed as the narrative traveled from day one of her birth to the last day of her life. In alternate chapters, the reader was taken from the past which began in 1936, to the present, 2015, moving forward through several specific years in between when momentous or life-changing events occurred for Harriet. She was known as a quiet girl. She did what all women of that era did; she took care of the hearth and home and made sure it was a heallthy place for her husband and children. She was devoted, self-sacrificing and uncomplaining, but she was never truly over the moon with happiness. Even with the disappointments she sometimes dealt with and felt, she never stopped loving her husband. This is a love story with secrets, surprises and very unexpected revelations and consequences. Harriet’s 50+ years of marriage apparently suffered from a lack of communication on many levels. Her children experienced growing pains throughout the years, but eventually turned out okay, although her daughter was a recovering addict and her son was currently in financial straits. Her life was filled with surprises and the consequences of long held secrets. It is told with a light touch of both humor and seriousness, but neither approach is too overwhelming.Harriet’s life, desires, dreams and disappointments are exposed as the story develops. She sometimes felt overburdened when she started a family, disillusioned by her inability to achieve her desire to become a professional, but caring for her son Skip and her husband prevented her from going back to school and achieving that goal of working in a man’s world. She dreamed of returning someday, to some state of independence, and when her son was old enough, rather than ask her successful father for help getting a job, she approached his close friend instead, a man she had known throughout her childhood. He happily hired her, and it was at this point in her life that it became necessary for her to harbor a life-changing secret. One rash moment sent her back to her hearth and home to raise another child, a child named Caroline who always felt as if she were second best.Her husband Bernard became fairly successful, while she was a stay at home mom, but he traveled a lot and their relationship cooled. Passion basically disappeared from their marriage, but she was never truly sure about why this happened. She felt a bit neglected. He rarely did more than harrumph at her comments and she was needy for conversation and companionship. Her friend Mildred, a woman she met in church, became her salvation. When Bernard became seriously ill and died, Mildred helped her through her grief, but Mildred also had a terrible secret, a secret that she wanted desperately to unburden herself of, by revealing it to Harriet. That secret would shake the very foundations of Harriet’s past life, upending her world view.Bernard Chance, also became a quiet man, although he could be and sometimes was, an abusive husband, especially toward the end of their marriage of 54 years which seemed to be withering on the vine. Still, when he became ill, Harriet tended to his needs as best she could. When he died, though, she had him cremated rather than buried, as he wished. The reader will wonder why she disobeyed his instructions. Out of the blue, one day she received a phone call telling her that Bernard had won an Alaskan cruise, but had never claimed it. Believing that he must have wanted the two of them to go, she decided to go anyway and asked her best friend Mildred to accompany her. At the last moment, Mildred backed out. Harriet, against the wishes of her children, decided to go alone. She boards the ship with Bernard’s ashes stored in an empty yogurt container and prepares to enjoy the trip. She intended to disperse the ashes somewhere in Alaska. Her friend Mildred’s son had driven her to the cruise line, and he had left a letter with her from his mom. He told her that his mom did not want her to read it until after she boarded the ship, and she complied. After reading the letter, Harriet discovered that she and Bernard had both seriously deceived each other. There were devastating secrets hidden in their pasts. She discovered that along with herself and Bernard, her best friend Mildred also had a heavy secret! Disturbed, even distraught, by the new information she had learned, she left for dinner to try and forget about it, became drunk and made a scene. She had to be removed from the dining room and escorted back to her cabin, but she had little memory of the evening when she awoke in the morning. However, she was in for a g surprise. Her daughter appeared out of nowhere. She had decided to take Mildred’s place and take the cruise with her. As mother and daughter bonded, they also had moments when they drew further apart. Their relationship had always been far from perfect. Harriet discovered that her children had been scheming together to take over her assets. As Caroline and Harriet revealed their secrets to each other, the ground beneath their feet was suddenly not so solid; this was not due to being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Their world was erupting because of new information and revelations about their past and present. The story is a love story, in a unique way. It a story about a love that could survive betrayal and distance; it is a story about a love that became more apparent for both Bernard and Harriet, and even her children, after his death. There were moments of magical realism, mysticism or hallucinations; I was never quite sure which it was; was Harriet in the throes of episodes of dementia? She saw Bernard; she saw evidence of his presence in her home; she had conversations with Bernard and actual sightings of Bernard, after his death, on the cruise ship. Did he truly come back to help her, to reveal his love for her, or did Harriet work out her own guilt with her imaginings of his corporeal presence, even after he had been cremated? Did the conversations between Bernard and CTO Charmichael ever really happen, or did Harriet completely make them up out of whole cloth in her waking dreams?Although I was touched by the story, by its honesty and sincere presentation of the relationship between each of the individuals presented, who made mistakes but still maintained their dignity and character, still maintained a connection, even with a false façade, with those they loved, the ending left me hanging. I wanted to know how Harriet would have confronted Mildred when she returned home from the cruise. I wanted to know if she sold her house to help her son financially. If she did, where would she have settled? Did she have a premonition of her own death? However, Harriet simply dropped from the scene, and the answers to these questions remained unknown. Was her death too convenient? Because of my unanswered questions, I felt as if the book never ended for me; it felt incomplete.Susan Boyce did an excellent job narrating the story presenting each character so authentically and expressively that they could have walked out of the book and assumed human form. The author’s use of language and dialogue was filled with imagery which painted the characters so clearly that they appeared lifelike in my mind’s eye. Harriet, in particular, appeared to me in her old fashioned way of dressing, and her behavior made me smile.I recommend the book in either print or audio form because it is well written and presented and will be totally enjoyable in either format.