This Is Your Life Harriet Chance (Evison) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The one constant in This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! is Evison's brutal honesty…. Evison resists every neat resolution, every unearned epiphany. As fanciful as his prose can be…he's not afraid to depict the dark side of aging as it is, and not as we wish it were…. [This] is a book that speaks to all of us, whether we're young enough to check Facebook 50 times a day, or old enough to have only a vague idea what the Internet is. The themes Evison presents—disappointment, delusion, redemption—are universal, and he deals with them beautifully in this wonderful novel…. The truth is sometimes hard to accept, but we have no choice but to do so. This is your life, Harriet Chance, but it's ours, too.
Michael Schaub - New York Times Book Review


Evison’s open-hearted, effervescent fourth novel...is structured as “an unsentimental accounting” of Harriet’s highs and lows.... This reader personally overdosed on adorable spirits after “It’s a Wonderful Life,”..., but Evison handles the jaunty tone with aplomb.
That lightness of touch is both a strength and a weakness.
Lisa Zeidner - Washington Post


Evison’s rollicking novel is a close-up up of the life of 78-year-old Harriet Chance, whose Alaskan cruise highlights include indulging in endless seafood buffets, acquiring touristy tribal knickknackery, and discovering the secret of her deceased husband’s decades-long affair with her best friend.
Oprah Magazine


Slowly, and with admirable, dark precision, Evison lays Harriet bare. The lies, the dodges, the secrets and frustrated desires. This is where the voice serves him. With a touch of snark and a lashing of perfectly affected irony, he flenses her to the bone and, somehow, seems kind in doing it. Comforting, even. That huckster's sing-song dripping with love, forgiveness and understanding—all of which have been in short supply during Harriet’s life.... It is Evison’s timing—the slow burn and perfect pacing of the reveals—that makes This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! hang together. He understands that, ultimately, every game show host stands as straight man to the goofy humanity of the regular folk sharing his stage. And with Harriet Chance—poor, frustrated, flummoxed Harriet—Evison has found his ideal foil.
NPR Books


Evison’s voice is buoyant and cheeky as he unveils the deep traumas that form Harriet’s sense of herself, but there are missteps.... Still, Evison succeeds in crafting a believable and gut-wrenching story, particularly Harriet’s relationship with her daughter.
Publishers Weekly


[S]mart readers will want to take this Alaskan cruise [Evison has] booked for widowed 79-year-old Harriet Chance, who suddenly realizes that her whole life has been based on a lie.
Library Journal


Both uplifting and melancholy, funny and thought-provoking, this entertaining read speaks directly to the importance of acceptance and healing.
Booklist


(Starred review.) Insightful, richly entertaining look at a woman who, very late in the game, finds that life remains full of surprises.... Evison writes humanely and with good humor of his characters, who, like the rest of us, muddle through, too often without giving ourselves much of a break. A lovely, forgiving character study that's a pleasure to read.
Kirkus Reviews