Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

My edition: Paperback, published in 2010 by Penguin Books Ltd, 496 pages.

Description: Alice is twenty-nine. She is whimsical, optimistic and adores sleep, chocolate, her ramshackle new house and her wonderful husband Nick What's more, she's looking forward to the birth of the 'Sultana' - her first baby.

But now Alice has slipped and hit her head in her step-aerobics class and everyone's telling her she's misplaced the last ten years of her life.

In fact, it would seem that Alice is actually thirty-nine and now she loves schedules, expensive lingerie, caffeine and manicures. She has three children and the honeymoon is well and truly over for her and Nick. In fact, he looks at her like she's his worst enemy. What's more, her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her either. And who is this 'Gina' everyone is so carefully trying not to mention?

Alice isn't sure that she likes life ten years on. Every photo is another memory she doesn't have and nothing makes sense. Just how much can happen in a decade? Has she really lost her lovely husband for ever?

Rating:

 
What Alice Forgot is a gripping novel about a woman who after an accident forgets the last ten years of her life. Ten years in which she changes as a person, her marriage deteriorates, friends leave and others come into her life. And needless to say she's in for somewhat of a shock when she eventually realises that she isn't in fact pregnant with her first baby, like she believes she is, but already has three school-bound children.

Author Liane Moriarty realistically depicts the confusing time Alice goes through when she slowly unravels the missing ten years of her life and tries to come to terms with the fact that she is no longer a free-spirited 29 year-old young adult with her whole life ahead of herself, but a nearly 40 year-old mother with all the worries and responsibilities that come with that.

It's a fascinating journey for the reader and a difficult one for Alice, as it hasn't been always rainbows and butterflies and she's forced to face choices she made while she was in a different mindset than her 29 year-old self. While she may be able to change some choices she's made in her life, others have led her on a path with no return.

This realisation is not always easy for the reader either and while I personally wasn't happy with the conclusion (particularly Olivia's story) I do understand that for the story to remain realistic there was no possibility for a perfect happily ever after ending.