What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty is a novel that really makes you sit back and think and I love that in a book. Alice is at the gym doing her spinning workout when she faints and falls off her bike hitting her head. When she wakes up, it's too find that she's lost ten years of her life! In her mind, she is still 29 years old and pregnant with her first child, and yet she learns that she's actually about to celebrate her thirty-ninth birthday! Just what is going on - well Alice has no idea - yet! What will Alice think of her grown up self, how will she handle all the changes that have happened around her, and ultimately what will she learn from all of it? At the hospital Alice is in for yet more surprises. Her sister Elisabeth shows up at the hospital and Alice notices how old and tired she looks. She also realizes that their relationship doesn't seem to be quite what she knows it to be. Even worse Alice learns that she is, in fact, not pregnant, but already the mother of three children and to top it off, they are three children that Alice doesn't remember at all. She doesn't remember having them, them growing up; absolutely nothing and this terrifies her. However, the worst is still coming. As Alice is laying there wishing her husband Nick would come because he'd know what to do, she learns from her sister that they are getting divorced and that they are not exactly having a very pleasant divorce either. Alice is stunned! She loves Nick with all of her being. Who is this person she's become? At home Alice is thrown into caring for her children that she can't remember and being amazed at the wonderful changes her home in her home. She finds out that she has a boyfriend too which is just too much for her. She can't have a boyfriend when she loves her husband Nick so much but meeting Nick shows Alice just how many changes their relationship has gone through. As Alice navigates this new world of school events, mommy's groups, personal trainers, and even cell phones; she learns that she doesn't really like the person she has become. She seems to have become this busy, busy person with no time left for the things that really matter and goodness - why is there no chocolate in the house! As bits and pieces of Alice's memory begin to come back to her she has to make some decisions about her future and the person she wants to be in it. What Alice Forgot is so much more than a woman losing her memory. It's much deeper than that tackling issues of marriage, infertility, children, infidelity, love, and family. If you could go back ten years in your life and look ahead, would you be happy with the person you've become? Are you the person you would have wanted to be? I think as we're living our day-to-day lives we really don't think about all the changes that are occurring but if you really stop and look back you realize that you were very likely a much different person ten years ago than you are today. That's what this novel does for us - it lets us take a look back and evaluate who we are today and whether or not we're very happy with who we've become. Maybe it even gives us a chance to make some changes to our own lives to make it better. What Alice Forgot makes a terrific book club selection which is exactly why my book club chose to read it and we all loved it! It's a book that you'll not want to put down as you anxiously make it to that last page when the story is completely unfolded before you. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty definitely makes my favorites list this year and I would recommend it without hesitation!

The name of the book I read is called What Alice Forgot. The author of this book is Liane Moriarty. The plot starts out with Alice in bed talking and going over all of the rules that she has to follow because she is pregnant. Then her head gets filled with many different memories and as soon as she wakes up she is in a gym. She finds out shortly after that she fell at the gym and hit her head. When the paramedics arrive to try and help Alice she tells them that she is 29, but one of her friends that is in the gym with her tells the paramedics that she is actually turning 40 soon. Alice tells them that it is the year 1998, when really it is 2008. This is when the readers realized that Alice has lost the memories of the past 10 years of her life. Throughout the book, Alice has to try and deal with everyday life that she would normally live, but now that she doesn’t have her memory from the past 10 years, everything is much harder. In my personal opinion, this book was very well written. It had a lot of suspense and mystery throughout its plot. The whole problem and conflict between Alice and Nick is one of the main things that kept the book interesting. As the book went on, more and more problems and situations kept coming up in Alice’s life, and reading about how she dealt with each one of these problems kept me really tied to the book and not wanting to stop reading. From the beginning of the book when Alice loses her memory, the author does a great job of keeping everything suspenseful. This story is about a woman named Alice Love who loses her memory of the past 10 years of her life. The book shows all of the hard obstacles that she has to go through with family and friends as she tries her best to discover the person was.. The main characters in this book are Alice, Elisabeth, and Nick. There are definitely some other important characters such as Alice’s children as well as Gina and Frannie, but they aren’t as important as the main characters. In the story the main characters all played major roles. Alice, being the protagonist, had the story focusing in on her and the problems she went through while losing her memory. Elisabeth is Alice’s sister who plays a big part in Alice’s life after Alice’s accident. Nick is Alice’s husband, and throughout the story they are going through a divorce because of a problem that Alice can’t seem to remember. My favorite character in the book has to either be Alice or Elisabeth. I like them both because they share a great sisterly connection. The author does a good job of showing the readers how before Alice’s accident their relationship was kind of drifting apart; and then after the accident, they find a way to come back together again. As the book went on, their relationship grew as they helped each other through different obstacles of their lives. I enjoyed reading this book. My favorite part was definitely the tension between Alice and Nick. Throughout the book, there was always conflict between the two of them. Either Alice wanted him back and Nick didn’t want anything to do with her, or Nick wanted her back and Alice couldn’t deal with him anymore. One issue I had with the novel was that Frannie’s journal entries were a little boring and sometimes confusing. If I could change something in the book, I would probably get rid of the journal entries that Elisabeth and Frannie write. Some of them were interesting, but I don’t think that they should have taken up a lot of the story. Someone who likes romance and mystery would really enjoy reading this book. It is a great read and it has a lot of thrills and suspense. It isn’t a very short book, but it is so well written that the book goes by very fast. Once you start reading it is very hard to stop and put the book down, I highly? recommend it

Buen libro, te mantiene leyendo sin parar aunque el final es bastante predecible

Muy bueno como se desarrolla! Te hace ponerte en el lugar de Alice todo el tiempo!! Reflexivo

Interesting but drones on a little too much

I Iike the premise of this novel, it’s like a time-travel story but with a twist. Because of the amnesia, Alice is able to “step out of herself” and see the person she has become objectively. The shock of discovering that she is ten years older than she believed herself to be is bad enough, but to learn that all the important relationships in her life have changed out of all recognition, is almost too much for poor Alice. Her beloved husband, Nick, is cold and distant; her sister, Elisabeth, with whom she has always had a good relationship, has become a stranger, and she has three children who she can’t remember giving birth to. On a less serious note, her mother, Barb, has married Nick’s father, Roger, and the pair have become obsessed with Salsa dancing. I liked Alice immediately and sympathized with her predicament. The story questions intrigued me; why are Alice and Nick getting a divorce? Why has she drifted apart from her sister? And, who is the mysterious Gina? As the story was told in the third person from Alice’s point of view, these questions may have been difficult to answer. (I would have liked some of the scenes told from Nick’s point of view for balance). To get around this, the author uses two clever plot devices. Firstly, we have a journal, written by Elisabeth, to her psychiatrist, Dr Jeremy Hodges, entitled “Elisabeth’s homework for Dr Hodges”, which provides a poignant subplot and insight into Elisabeth’s life, as well as providing further information about Alice. Secondly, we have Frannie’s blog entitled “Grand musings of a Great-grandmamma!”. Frannie is Honorary Grandmother to Alice and Elisabeth and my favourite secondary character. Most of the book involves Alice slowly unravelling the events of the past ten years, providing both humorous and sad moments. Alice’s confusion and longing for the husband she thought she knew was heartbreaking at times. Alice felt like an “impostor in her own life” for most of the book, which was sometimes frustrating to read, but as the random memories started to return, Alice began to piece together the details of her lost years. The scenes involving the children were funny and entertaining. Although the book was written with Liane Moriarty’s usual gentle humour, there are some serious issues raised in this story and I would recommend reading “Elisabeth’s homework for Dr Hodges” with a box of tissues nearby. Altogether, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Once you start reading, you just can't seem to put this book down. The plot is presented in a remarkable structure, three main characters express in their very unique ways their perception of what happened in the last ten years and what they are up to recently. The style of writing is heartwarming and humorous. You seem to bond immediately with the protagonists as their characters are described pretty realistic and in a kind way. Just like in her book "apples never fall", I was always so excited to read what would be revealed next. Absolute recommendation! BTW, I am German and can recommend Liane Moriartys books if you're looking for English literature to brush up your language skills😊