Hi Ya'll! Im back with another Liane Moriarty book. I think I have read almost all her books now, but maybe have 1 or 2 more books to read from her for now. But I went to the trusty Half Price Books and found a copy of What Alice Forgot, which I had read the summary of a while ago, but chose to read another one of her books instead. Now, months, maybe even a couple of years later, I finally read What Alice Forgot and I'm here to tell you my thoughts, per use.
About the Author
Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of eight internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, Nine Perfect Strangers and the number one New York Times bestsellers: The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies.
About the Book
Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over.
My Thoughts
First off, this was a fun ride to be on. The concept of losing your memory from the past 10 years is hard to think about, but I imagine it happens to some people and our author does a tremendous job of taking us on the ups and downs of losing one's memory. It's a concept that we don't read nearly enough about and it makes for a very entertaining read.
Along the ride, readers are kept wondering who Alice really is. We are introduced to 29-year-old, 1998 Alice, but we don't know who the real Alice is and if we're being frank, we probably didn't want to know her throughout the read. Younger Alice let things slip off her shoulder, while older Alice seemed to let every little thing stay on her shoulders. In the end, we get this happy medium of both versions of Alice, the one that she forgot and the one that she grew into. This concept made me think of my own growth and how there is a 20-year-old version of me and then there's 27, about to be 28 version of me and we're not the same. I may have certain aspects of her here and there and this made me ponder if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Besides making us wonder about the different versions of ourselves wandering around the different timelines, our author does a great job of making us guess which direction the story would head in. Will Alice and her husband make amends? Will she ever regain her full memory? Did Alice grow to be a horrible person? Everything is answered by the end and I appreciate that.
Something that I found to be a little convoluted was one of the side stories. There are two side stories to this book, one being Alice's sister's infertility and the other is her un-biological grandmother writing letters to her (SPOILER ALERT) dead fiancé. The sister story fit into the whole Alice was close but then drifted as she got older, but the un-biological grandmother writing letters to her dead fiancé didn't make sense to me. I thought that maybe it would somehow tie into everything, but it never did, at least that's how I felt. That was the only complaint I had with this book was the side story.
Overall, I recommend this read. Besides the one side story, it's a great read that keeps the reader engaged and mind wandering about all the possibilities. Definitely one to put on the shelf especially if you are a Liane Moriarty fan. Until next time, Happy Reading!
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