Just finished "What Alice Forgot"

[Moxie]

Anyone want to discuss it? Basically, Alice hits her head and forgets the past 10 years of her life. The book made me wonder what my 27YO self would think about the life of my 37YO self. I'm pretty sure I'm exactly where my 27YO self would want to be-big family, house in a good neighborhood, good marriage. My 27YO self just didn't realize how much work it would all be.

[Stacia]

I read it a couple of years ago, but didn't really like it. I had to wonder how she went from a nice, likable person to the quite unlikable (imo) person in those ten years. It seemed like a major personality shift -- too much of a personality shift to be convincing, imo (esp. because the author kept emphasizing that Alice was still the same nice person underneath). My book club read it & I know one of my friends found Alice a very irritating character because even though she couldn't remember things, she wouldn't ask anyone one anything in order to help herself remember. Also, for all the influence the friend had on her, there was not a whole lot of info about that lady or that friendship, esp. since it completely morphed/changed Alice's personality for the worse. Not a book I liked nor one I found believable.

[Moxie]

See, I thought she did a pretty good job of showing how all the little changes, over a span of 10 years, could equal a pretty big personality shift. That baby you are so looking forward to birthing doesn't sleep for a year, DH works longer and longer hours, relationships slowly fade away, etc. I know I was pretty starry-eyed about parenting and homeschooling 10 years ago. Do you have any old love letters? I do. Sometimes DH and I will pull them out and laugh at the "perfect life" we really thought we were starting.

[KathyBC]

Oh I loved it. It wasn't what I would call realistic - going jogging after a concussion? But it was a sweet story, and yes, it made me think about whether my marriage and relationship with the kids were where I thought they would be 10 years ago.

[Sammish]

After reading this thread, I went to my library and borrowed this book - so thanks for the mention! I really enjoyed it (although this morning I am paying for having stayed up late last night to finish it :glare:). The whole time I was reading it, I could just picture it being made into a RomCom movie. I'm picturing someone like Meg Ryan for Alice, and, I don't know, maybe Marc Ruffalo for Nick?

 

ETA: Just looked it up, and apparently I'm not the only one who thought this should be a movie. Liane Moriarty sold the movie rights. I love this quote from her, "I’d cast Brad Pitt for the role of Nick. He’d be entirely unsuitable, far too good-looking, but I think we’d all learn to live with that."

[Lilaclady]

I liked the book. It is not all believable but it does help me to reflect on myself and how I saw myself 20,10 and 5 yrs ago. I do agree that the shift might have been too rapid for 10 yrs but how many people have you known who were crazy in love one year and in 2 or 3 are drawing daggers at each other and the relationship has changed drastically.

[Alice]

I read this one last year and liked it (how could I not :)). I though that the author was suggesting that much of her memory loss was intentional, that she was trying to forget all the bad things that had happened to her. I don’t remember all the details but I remember that i liked that in the end she realizes that her memories, bad and good, have made her who she is. She can’t just go back and erase the past and start over but she also can choose to move forward.

 

When I turned 30 I looked back and felt like I was a completely different person than I had been at 20. It was kind of shocking to me to think about how much I had changed. By comparison, 30-40 was not so big in essential change even though I had major life changes (the biggest being becoming a mother). So I did think it was realistic that small things over time could add up to one day looking in the mirror and not recognizing who you are.

 

If you like the memory loss theme two others I read last year that I liked even more were The Housekeeper and the Professor and the deliciously creepy Before I Go to Sleep.