What Alice Forgot: BlogHer Book Club

Sometimes time goes so fast, it doesn’t feel like much has changed from one year to the next. I remember a conversation or an event, and am shocked to think it happened 10 years ago. Now imagine bumping your head one day and losing all of your memories from the past 10 years. That’s exactly what happens to Alice Love, the main character in What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, the latest BlogHer Book Club selection.

Alice goes to the gym one day, and falls off her bike in spin class and bumps her head. When she comes to, she can’t understand why she’s at the gym (she hates the gym). She’s lost 10 years of memories, and in her mind she’s 29, pregnant with her first child, and married to the love of her life. Only in reality, she’s 39, has three children, and is about to sign her divorce papers.

I admit, watching Alice discover her new life through the eyes of her “younger” self was fascinating, and made me wonder what my younger self would make of my current situation. Small details that she remembered as so important to her younger self are all but forgotten as she’s grown older. Her priorities have changed, although she doesn’t know why. And her family keeps talking about “Gina” in hushed voices, and it takes her by surprise when she finds out exactly who Gina is. Meanwhile, we also learn about her sister’s battle with infertility, her mother’s dramatic personality change, and her grandmother’s budding romance (my favorite part of the book, actually).

While I found What Alice Forgot to be a bit long, it had a satisfying ending that made the long read worth it. This would be great airplane or beach reading this summer.

If you want to read more about What Alice Forgot, check out the BlogHer Book Club site for more discussions about this book and others.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

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