What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Mary BookPages, Contemporary Fiction, Kindle edition, Liane Moriarty

Title:  What Alice Forgot

Author:  Liane Moriarty

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

Published:  April 2011 – Putnam

About:  (Goodreads synopsis)  Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she’s actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. 

A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn’t sure she likes who she’s become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.

My take:  What Alice Forgot is one of the more enjoyable novels I’ve read this year. It started slowly which I appreciated since it let me experience what the main character must have felt – she was not quite sure of completely confused by what was going on. As the story moved along I became invested and before the half-way point I knew how I wanted it to end – but I wasn’t sure it would.

Liane Moriarty wrote characters I could relate to or, at the very least, I could understand their actions. The person I identified with most was Alice. I can’t imagine not remembering the births of my children, a change in my relationship with my husband, or a drastic change in my persona. That’s what Alice has to deal with and I was pulling for her the whole time. And that’s all I’m going to say about it. Except – I think you should read it 🙂

I’m so glad my book club selected What Alice Forgot. Highly recommended to anyone who loves to get lost in an entertaining novel.

Source:  I bought it.

21 thoughts on “What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty”

  1. It ended the way I thought it would too. I enjoyed the book, maybe but not as much as you did, but I’m still glad we read it. I don’t think I would have picked this one on my own.

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  2. I really enjoyed the book, and the peek into both sides of Alice’s lives. I think the subplot with Elisabeth was very sad though, and sort of drove the book forward in a more somber way, but all in all, it was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and that made me think a lot more than I had been expecting. This was a great review, by the way!

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    • Thanks, Heather! Good point about the subplot. I agree that it made things a bit more serious but I think it also added depth to the family life that she woke up to – other people were dealing with loss in their lives.
      Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from this book. It delivered much more than I’d anticipated 🙂

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  6. I’ve seen this one around and I’ll admit the premise is interesting. It’s funny because all the reviews I’ve read mention the ending but don’t say what it is. I’m one of the few out there that likes spoilers. I’ll be adding it to the list and googling the ending. 🙂

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  13. I was just getting ready to start this book. Interesting that you mention that it was a good book club book. Maybe I will wait to read it and make it my selection when we pick books later this month.

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