I fell in love with Liane Moriarty when I read Big Little Lies back in 2014. In fact, I loved that book so much that while I wanted to jump in and read everything she’d ever written, I was also afraid to read any of her other books for surely there would be no way any of them could measure up to that one. Does that ever happen to you? Do you read a book by an author that you fall in love with and then get nervous to read their other books? It’s like when an author has packaged something up so perfectly that you simultaneously want to devour everything they’ve written but are also skeptical that anything could be as great as the first one you read.
Okay, enough with my crazy book reading antics. I finally did it. I heard some chatter that What Alice Forgot was in movie production and that Jennifer Aniston would be starring in it which caused my curiosity to outgrow my fear.
And boy did Liane deliver. Yes, we’re on a first name basis now. YOU GUYS, this one was soooo good! It took me a while to get going. The first chapter or two didn’t totally grab me, but then the story really took off from there.
Brief synopsis – Alice is in a spin class and falls over and bonks her head HARD. (Which by the way is one of my biggest fears, which is exactly why I’ve only ever taken three spin classes in my entire life. This may be why it took me a chapter or two to dive in……..worst fears realized in the first few pages….but I digress…..) She comes to and is carried away to the hospital where it soon becomes very clear that she’s basically forgotten the last 10 years of her life. That’s one serious concussion! She thinks she’s newly married to the love of her life and 29……turns out she’s actually 39, has three kids and is getting divorced. How do you forget going through child birth three times?! Anyhow, the whole of the story is Alice figuring out how she got to where she is now in life and whether or not remembering the last decade will be a good thing or a bad thing.
I really loved this story. It was thought provoking, heart warming and witty; a combination that Liane does so well. And it makes you realize how trivial we can be as we live out our daily lives. If you’d forgotten the last 10 years of your life would you be surprised at where you are in life now…….would you be surprised at who you’d become?
I myself am currently in this middle stage of life……and I’m finding that there are so many books, movies, television shows painting images of “this is 40″……… “this is marriage and divorce after 10, 15, 20 years……..after 2, 3 kids” and so often they portray life at this stage of the game in a hilarious, yet totally depressing way………but this book………while it paints a very real picture; it’s interesting and at times a bit gut wrenching, but I didn’t find it depressing in the least. I thought it was refreshing.
And I really hope Jennifer Aniston plays Alice. She’d be perfect!
Are you a Liane Moriarty fan? Which of her books should I read next…..The Husband’s Secret or The Last Anniversary?
The Husband's Secret is a must read. It's a total page turner and I read it in one day!