≡ Descargar This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison 9781616202613 Books

This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison 9781616202613 Books

Download As PDF : This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison 9781616202613 Books

This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison 9781616202613 Books

This is the first time I've ever felt misled by a book - probably not the excellent writer's fault but the doings of critics and fellow authors, who have fallen all over themselves to praise it without really saying what it is, and a stellar publicity machine. Or vice versa.

I bought this book, "This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!," thinking it's a light-hearted, inspirational story about an elderly woman who comes into her own after her husband dies and she takes a cruise. Besides the rollicking reviews, there's that exclamation point at the end of the title. :) And the book cover leads you to believe this, with it's light blue waves and yellow ship.

Instead, a game-show type narrator dips in and out of Harriet's life, with chapters from childhood to senior citizen alternating with present-day Harriet, who discovers that, before he died, her husband, Bernard, had booked an Alaskan cruise for two. She decides to take the trip, but soon learns a disturbing secret, drinks too much and becomes a worry for the crew. So her estranged daughter joins her on the trip.

As the book unfolded, I kept waiting for an arc to build. Instead, the emcee takes us back and forth through Harriet's life, and there's a constant unveiling of awful happenings and bitter truths. I found myself pushing through the backstory and more interested in present-day Harriet. There was something off-putting about the narrator's enthusiastic retelling of Harriet's disappointing life - was that irony? sarcasm? - and I was so sure redemption and happiness were finally in the cards.

Perhaps this is real life, no true order, not especially fair. But I wish I had gone into the book knowing this was its premise - that it's a serious book, disguised as a jaunty read. Or "in" a jaunty read. "This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!" is beautifully written, and held my interest. I have no problem leaving a book unfinished and I read this one to the end. But it left me depressed, and feeling like I had been fooled.


Tags : This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! [Jonathan Evison] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV><B>“Jonathan Evison is a ridiculously gifted storyteller: racing, breathless, and vibrant with his prose,Jonathan Evison,This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!,Algonquin Books,1616202610,Mothers and daughters,Mothers and daughters;Fiction.,Widows,Widows;Fiction.,AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY FICTION,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Contemporary Women,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Humorous General,FICTION Women,Family Life,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Coming of Age,FictionLiterary,FictionWomen,GENERAL,General Adult,Literary,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),United States,marriage;motherhood;everywoman;life story;mother-daughter relationship;betrayal;aging;widow;voyage;cruise;Alaska

This Is Your Life Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison 9781616202613 Books Reviews

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison narrates the process of a life review, the universal developmental task of old age. Harriet Chance, a 78-year-old woman, faces her own mortality. She looks back to reassess the meaning of her life, her unresolved conflicts, hidden secrets, her need to seek forgiveness from those she has hurt, and finally her need to forgive herself for her own blind spots and failures. The book spans Harriet’s life from birth to the end.

Who is she? Harriet asks the question over and over. Is she her mother’s daughter? Her mother called her “Miss Piggy”. Is she her father’s daughter? Her father hoped for a career for her in law. She didn’t live up to that prospect. Was she a good wife for Bernard? She stayed with him, caring for his diminished mind and body until his death. Was she a good mother to Caroline and Skip? Their answers are not conclusive. What about her relationship with Charley Fitzsimons? She was only a baby when he started manipulating her. And her best friend Mildred? What about that relationship? Who is Harriet Chance and who gets to define her? Is she in control of her own narrative? Yes and no.

Evison’s writing skill sets the reader on notice that this is no ordinary novel. He uses literary tools with finesse to weave Harriet’s life experiences together. Flashbacks. Chronological order is not called for in a life review. The memories are random and out of order. They shift from present to past. From childhood to old age. The reader is inside Harriet’s mind. It is a confusing process, unfinished and not smartly tied up. The reader must pay attention. Harriet must pay attention.

Evison plots submerged stories in the flashbacks to peak the reader’s interest. Mildred, her best friend. How could she? Her husband and his infidelity. Her child by Charley?
The reader must dig to find what really happened. As does Harriet. In much of her life she is clueless. A universal experience for humans of limited perspective.

The author often uses the second person to tell the story. For example, “Look at you Harriet, a grown woman! No longer a glass of milk but a tall drink of water.” Sometimes that second person voice comes from Harriet’s conscience, and sometimes it appears to be an outside narrator looking in on her progress.

And finally, Evison combines the life review process, and his creative writing expertise to
give us a wonderful character, Harriet Chance. The reader knows Harriet. She could be our sister, or our mother, or, yes, she could be us. This author leaves the reader to ponder his or her own life review.
This is the first time I've ever felt misled by a book - probably not the excellent writer's fault but the doings of critics and fellow authors, who have fallen all over themselves to praise it without really saying what it is, and a stellar publicity machine. Or vice versa.

I bought this book, "This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!," thinking it's a light-hearted, inspirational story about an elderly woman who comes into her own after her husband dies and she takes a cruise. Besides the rollicking reviews, there's that exclamation point at the end of the title. ) And the book cover leads you to believe this, with it's light blue waves and yellow ship.

Instead, a game-show type narrator dips in and out of Harriet's life, with chapters from childhood to senior citizen alternating with present-day Harriet, who discovers that, before he died, her husband, Bernard, had booked an Alaskan cruise for two. She decides to take the trip, but soon learns a disturbing secret, drinks too much and becomes a worry for the crew. So her estranged daughter joins her on the trip.

As the book unfolded, I kept waiting for an arc to build. Instead, the emcee takes us back and forth through Harriet's life, and there's a constant unveiling of awful happenings and bitter truths. I found myself pushing through the backstory and more interested in present-day Harriet. There was something off-putting about the narrator's enthusiastic retelling of Harriet's disappointing life - was that irony? sarcasm? - and I was so sure redemption and happiness were finally in the cards.

Perhaps this is real life, no true order, not especially fair. But I wish I had gone into the book knowing this was its premise - that it's a serious book, disguised as a jaunty read. Or "in" a jaunty read. "This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!" is beautifully written, and held my interest. I have no problem leaving a book unfinished and I read this one to the end. But it left me depressed, and feeling like I had been fooled.