Book Review: What Alice Forgot

Title: What Alice Forgot
Author: Liane Moriarty

Genre: Fiction

Published: 2009

Themes: Marriage, Divorce, Siblings, Amnesia, Infertility

Rating: 

Brief Overview: After falling at the gym, Alice loses all memories of the last ten years, including her pending divorce, friendships and even the existence of her children. Instead she believes that the year is 1998 and she is pregnant with her first child. Once Alice realizes that she has forgotten an entire decade, she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life.The memory loss helps her see her marriage and family relationships in a different light, including her now distant relationship with her sister who has been struggling with infertility. When Alice regains her memory she must decide if the changes she made as her 1998 self have any place in her real life.

Impressions: It is not often that a book about amnesia completely avoids the realm of soap operas, but in this case it does, instead feeling realistic and heartfelt. I loved this book. I thought it really captured how over time we change and perhaps take relationships with friends and family for granted. Often we assume personality changes are equivalent to personal growth, but in this book Alice learns that her old self can give her a brand new perspective.I thought it was a very sweet and real look at family life. The characters were well developed and I felt like they were people that I might meet in real life.I definitely recommend reading this one. 

What to read next: 

The Last Letter From Your Lover (JoJo Moye

The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)