Daylight Savings Time. It’s amazing how one hour can make a difference. By difference, I mean make you annoyed that it’s dark when you go to work, or you’re just tired for the next few days. That sounds like a good opportunity to read a new book (or blog) before you fall asleep.
Book Read: This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
Author: Jonathan Evison
Number of Books Read, 2019 Edition: 8
Harriet Chance is 78 and facing mortality. Her husband of 55 years, Bernard, is now in the grave, but not before booking an Alaskan cruise. Harriet impulsively decides to go, and asks her best friend to go with her. Mildred bails on right before departure, but Harriet has her mind set on cruising. So the adventure begins.
Told through flashbacks and stories of Harriet at different ages, Harriet is seeing her husband’s ghost. He stops by occasionally because secrets are going to be revealed, both from Bernard and Harriet. When Harriet’s daughter Caroline surprises her, a tainted mother-daughter relationship will be revealed.
Together with a new friend, Harriet finds a new lease on life. In that, she begins a look back from when she came into the world with only a few sounds, to a dream of being a lawyer, to unexpected pregnancies, to looking back on an uncle-figure who may not have been what he seemed, and to wondering if she lived a majority of her life under false assumptions.
But it’s Harriet life, and she might just take a chance on it.
I one hundred percent enjoyed this book. It was fast moving, which doesn’t always happen when stores are told in flashbacks, it had depth, and I kept wanting to turn the page. I looked forward to reading this one each day. Evison’s writing is phenomenal. His story is humorous and big-hearted. From the get-go, you’ll realize this is no ordinary book.
Told in the second person, at times the second person is a narrator, and other times it seems like Harriet’s conscious is telling the story. It moves the story along and makes things more interesting. It never is bothersome to have the flip-flop.
Another successful library find lead to a novel that is a combination of a love story, a mother-daughter revelation, and a story of self revelation. It’s a combination that will keep you reading. It’s Harriet’s life, so take a chance!
Next Read: Puddin’ by Julie Murphy
