FICTION

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

by Jonathan Evison
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! Algonquin. Sept. 2015. 304p. ISBN 9781616202613. $25.95; ebk. ISBN 9781616205362. F
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Evison's (All About Lulu; The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving) newest novel is a romp back and forth through the life of Harriet Chance. Recently widowed, 79-year-old Harriet seems to have accepted that her deceased husband will be popping up to talk to her whenever he likes. Despite this condition, she sets off on an Alaska cruise, during which she's forced to confront a sudden and uncomfortable truth: her life has been lived under completely false pretenses. Evison takes the reader straight back to Harriet's birth, popping in and out of the past with an amusing flourish to explain to Harriet how things came to be this way, while the present Harriet tries to find her footing through the sudden arrival of her estranged daughter, who has more revelations of her own.
VERDICT Evison writes a quick-paced family drama, with enough lighthearted enthusiasm to soften the serious blows he delivers to our poor heroine and his readers. This title will be particularly appealing to fans of quirky, dysfunctional families and authors Maria Semple and Jami Attenberg. [See Prepub Alert, 4/6/15; a LibraryReads September pick.]
Reviewed by Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH , Aug 21, 2015
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