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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Glad I checked this out of the library and didn't pay for it. I kept seeing it at bookstores, and the cover reminded me of "Where'd You Go Bernadette" so finally I got my hands on it, hoping for a fun light read. Well, I can see how people might light it. Weird is my general assessment. And not weird in an interesting creative way (e.g., The First Bad Man by Miranda July). Weird in an attempt to be cute and play with literary techniques (second person and third person narrative) and tell a surprising and complex story that turned out to not be cute, not surprising, and then, well, it just ended.
It was overall kind of depressing, actually at the end of it all, which maybe was the point? Who knows.
I don't recommend.
It was overall kind of depressing, actually at the end of it all, which maybe was the point? Who knows.
I don't recommend.
Well, this was a good, quick read. It really was written to mimic the old This is Your Life show, and the book took you back and forth through the life of recent widow Harriet Chance. The story was good--lots of twists and turns and surprises. There wasn't as much laugh out loud humor as I'd expected; instead the humor came from living a long life and having to account for a fair number of mistakes. You had to like Harriet, even when she wasn't being perfect!
Listened. Reader had great voice. Book entertaining with each chapter moving to different dates in her life (78 then 9 then 78 then 1...)
Audio book: regional mispronunciations bothered me, especially Sequim (pronounced as See-kwim by the narrator). And Bon Marche, which was not a huge deal. But Sequim was the setting!
Dazzling quick read. Harriet Chance, a jagged edged and flawed woman [who wants to read about perfection?], finds out surprising news after her husband’s death. She takes the Alaskan cruise her husband paid for and planned with her daughter as an unexpected and rather undesirable travel companion. Of her daughter: “It breaks Harriet’s heart that Caroline squandered every opportunity, that she sabotaged her life with bad decisions.” I haven’t read that many authors that memorably chronicle old age or convincingly can write an older character. Muriel Spark [Memento Mori] comes to mind. It’s impressive that Jonathan Evison deftly gets into the mindset of a 78-year-old female character. Evison brings Harriet Chance to the reader during various ages in her life with candor and wit. Using a game show voice the narrator takes Harriet Chance back and forth from present to past to describe what occurred during her lifetime. The paths she chose. The paths she didn’t. The results. It’s about parenting and partnering and navigating life’s messiness and pitfalls. The edgy tone makes this novel superbly inventive, unique and fast-paced. Of Harriet Chance in her 20s: “All these years later, they’re still slapping your fanny around the office. Your salary doesn’t stretch that far. The work is exhausting. As both a woman and an assistant, you’re expected to work harder.” I like Harriet Chance in her early years-- a scrappy survivor with realistic expectations. By 78, Harriet’s rather resigned yet remains unapologetic and opinionated. Can she and her daughter come to terms with each other now? This is a delightful, brutally honest novel that will keep you turning pages.
published here: http://entertainmentrealm.com/2015/09/12/book-review-this-is-your-life-harriet-chance/
published here: http://entertainmentrealm.com/2015/09/12/book-review-this-is-your-life-harriet-chance/
I enjoyed most of this book but the last few chapters of it made little sense to me.
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 (eyeroll) 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 ever watched a Lifetime movie you know what happened.) The next generation (our boomers/Gen X'ers) are shifty and selfish and empty. Example: 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.
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 (eyeroll) 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 ever watched a Lifetime movie you know what happened.) The next generation (our boomers/Gen X'ers) are shifty and selfish and empty. Example: 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.
Two stars because it had potential in the first free chapters; fun format, positioning some interesting situations. Instead I’m halfway through and tired of terrible people, annoying conflicts, distasteful family members, and a main character I should care for by now. Moving on.
The title of this book makes it sound like a frivolous read, but there's really a lot of depth to this book. I liked it a lot.