Rape ( )

2.5 rounded up to 3. ( )

I almost put this down after the first three chapters but then I went back and read the whole thing. Can't make up my mind, was it good or just weird? Very short chapters jumped back and forth through various periods of Harriet Changes life from age 1 to age 78, mostly age 78. Age 78 may or may not be the last year of her life. Her deceased husband Bernard keeps appearing. I would have given it 3 stars but since I am still thinking about it as I write this it gets 4 for making me ponder.
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fiction. Scenes from a 78-year-old's life. I get that there's a major twist to this story, and the premise is mildly interesting--but only that. I was not hooked by page 62 and decided to move on to a new book. ( )

How to describe this book? Entertaining. Unusual. Read it with a bit of suspended belief and liberal tolerance for slow reveals. The book's unknown narrator alternates between omniscient third person and direct address to Harriet as various events and dates in her life are examined at age 78. Says the narrator: "While the days unfold, one after the other, and the numbers all move in one direction, our lives are not linear, Harriet. We are the sum of moments and reflections, actions and decisions, triumphs, failures, and yearnings, all of it held together, inexplicably, miraculously, really, by memory and association." So true! All of this reflection occurs in the space of about 2 weeks while Harriet is preparing for and embarking on an Alaskan cruise. Her husband, Bernard, dead a little less than a year had won the trip in a silent auction -- unbeknownst to Harriet. Now she is faced with 2 tickets on a cruise she never intended to take. When her friend, Mildred backs out at the last minute, Harriet's daughter Caroline shows up -- though not until the first port. This has been Harriet's "difficult" child, unlike her son Skip -- her favorite. However both are worried about her and her mental state of grief -- Harriet's parish priest has called Skip to report that Harriet thinks she sees Bernard's ghost (she does!) So now Harriet is stuck at sea with her problem child and all the ghosts and failings of her past, and the ghost of her dead husband. While this could all be maudlin or morbid, the narrator's tone and detachment saves the day and the book is actually quite humorous. It is meant to be a farce, but there are deep truths here. Revealing much else would really be a spoiler. A cross in style and tone between Where'd You Go Bernadette and The Book Thief. Go figure. ( )