What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Amy     
Lynnie 

women's fiction, mystery

Alice falls down during her spin class, hits her head, and believes it to be 10 years earlier than it really is.  She does not remember her children or most of the people in her current life.  She also does not understand how life changed so drastically nor how she became such a different person than the one she believes herself to be.  This book follows the unraveling of the mystery of her life's choices and circumstances during the period she can't remember.

Amy's Review

Liane Moriarty seems to have the “mommy gossip” lifestyle down pat. And she definitely has her formula. Like the two other Moriarty books I’ve read, What Alice Forgot is told from the perspective of three different women—in this case they are related. And, like her other stories, there is a lot of telling of tales by, and creation of drama from, the mommy network. And, like her other stories, there are marital issues.

But, it got long in the telling at times and I did not love it as much as The Husband’s Secret or Big Little Lies. For Moriarty fans, though, it’s a fun read. I found the idea of losing memories for the last 10 years very intriguing and watching Alice try to reconcile her thoughts of 10-years-younger Alice with what she was learning about the current Alice was compelling. Thinking about my own life 10 years ago, it was very different than my current life. But, I hope my personality wasn’t so drastically different 10 years ago as Alice’s and several of her friends’. It’s interesting to consider.  

Lynnie's Review

If you have read & enjoyed other Liane Moriarty books (Big Little Lies or The Husband's Secret) you will find this story just as satisfying.

As usual, Moriarty has written characters who are vivid and interesting and set them into a plot that leaves you wondering what is really going on. When Alice wakes up from being concussed she's lost 10 years of memory and possibly quite a bit more as she examines her current life through the eyes of someone that has never, and in her opinion would never, become the person her friends and family perceive her to be. Until her memories return she has to see her own world through the eyes of others as well as the eyes of her younger self.

Like the other Moriarty books I've read there are layers to peel away before the truth is revealed. This was a fun book to kick off the summer reading season.