This Is Chance!

Reviews

“It’s an inspiring portrait of one woman who embraced and mitigated a crisis situation; a beautiful exploration of how people tell stories on the radio, on stage, in books, and generally to each other; and a suddenly very relevant and optimistic description of how humans act when confronted with sudden, world-changing circumstances.”—Wired
 
“The central event occurred half a century ago. But the parallels between that moment and this one felt unmistakable.”—Michael Barbaro, The New York Times
 
“This is a story about what makes us human.”—Anchorage Daily News
 
“No matter who you are, no matter what your reading tastes . . . This is Chance! will speak directly to you at this moment in time.”—Seattle Review of Books
 
“Jon Mooallem’s beautiful new book . . . left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.”—Samin Nosrat, in Grubstreet
 
“A great story of how even strangers can come together to promote healing in times of crisis.”—Forbes

“Jon Mooallem . . . brings to life one heroine’s story that inspired hope, kindness and altruism . . . put[s] the quake to words with an authenticity that could trick most any Alaskan into thinking the author had lived through it . . . This Is Chance! resonates at its core, a deeply moving ideology about a community facing uncertainty and change, in a world otherwise perceived to be safe and predictable.”—Anchorage Press
 
“It’s a feel-good story about a community pulling together to respond to an unprecedented disaster.”—St. Louis Public radio
 
“A master of narrative nonfiction . . . puts his narrative know-how to work depicting a community at the mercy of nature.”—California magazine
 
“A picture of a community coming together in the face of tragedy [that] seems to offer a blueprint for us now: a possible route forward, when previously unthinkable environmental and political catastrophes seem to have become a daily occurrence.”—Outside

“An intimate, moving story about our capacity to care for one another when things fall apart—and, just maybe, on all the ordinary days, too. Jon Mooallem is one of the most intelligent, compassionate, and curious authors writing today. I would go on any adventure that his mind embarks upon, knowing that I was being led by the ablest of guides.”—Elizabeth Gilbert

“With grace and command, Jon Mooallem illuminates the near-divine existential interchange between wonder and horror, fate and self-determination. I teared up reading it, getting to know Genie Chance, a perfectly named hero—grateful to brush up against the extraordinary and unforgotten.”—Jia Tolentino, bestselling author of Trick Mirror

“This Is Chance! is funny, poignant, and surprising: It takes an all-too-familiar story of a woman whose work is fundamental but long forgotten and turns it on its head.”—Rebecca Skloot, bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Expand reviews