What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Author: Liane Moriarty
Original title: What Alice Forgot
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Contemporary
Format: Audio book
Read by: Caroline Lee
Duration: 15h34m
Goodreads

Blurb:
    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:
       Alice has a fall at the gym and loses her memory of the last 10 years. I really enjoyed how the story was told through Alice's eyes as I learned how she has changed and also the people around her as she pieces the events of the last 10 years together. She remembers the people around her and their situations as they were 10 years ago and given little clues which creates the mystery of how the events of their lives have changed and shaped into who they are today.
    This fiction covers a broad array of topics, including divorce, death, infertility and a complete breakdown of the family unit. Actually, I liked how the infertility topic was dealt with. I never questioned this issue and had a vague idea what women are going through. In the book I saw a scary picture of obsession that shapes your life in all aspects starting with your sexual life and finishing with your perсeption of the world itself, splitting it into two militant camps. Very complicated and disturbing topic.
      The whole "Alice situation" made me think a lot, how we give in to the flow of time and get lost in everyday life, getting far and far away from us - young and purposeful, ambitious and full of great plans. It is not that we are pathetic nowadays, but how life changes and how it shapes up our demands and expectations. The main challenge here is to look at yourself with your younger eyes and say truly if you are happy with what you see. So those kind of questions were popping up in my mind, while I listen to this book, which is a very nice and funny read with a lot of dramatic turns, but still quite enjoyable.

Rating: 

         4/5