Book Review: "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty

Hi Steemians!

In this post I wanted to share one of my most recent reads, a contemporary novel called What Alice Forgot by author Liane Moriarty.

Moriarty has also written other bestsellers such as Big Little Lies (also turned into a mini-series)

Truly Madly Guilty

and The Husband's Secret;

all of which I have previously read and really enjoyed.

What Alice Forgot is one of her earlier works written in 2010. It centers around this 39-year-old woman called Alice, who hits her head in the gym one day and completely forgets the past ten years of her life. She wakes up thinking she is only 29, pregnant with her first child and madly in love with her new husband Nick. She is shocked to find her life completely changed in just ten years: She and Nick are in the middle of a divorce, she has three children by now (none of whom she remembers) and she seems to have somehow alienated all the most important people in her life.

The book follows Alice as she tries to piece back together her memory and come to terms with some of the horrible things that have happened to her in those ten years, as well as trying to somehow save her marriage.

While not being my favourite Liane Moriarty book, it was definitely very enjoyable. I just cannot help but fall in love with the characters she writes - she always manages to make them feel so real and believable.

The plot is a little slow moving in parts and particularly the first third of the novel was a little hard to get through. It definitely picks up speed as soon as Nick enters the picture though, and from there you're just left rooting for the both of them to figure their stuff out and get back together.

The book is fun, light-hearted, but also comes with an important message: Long-term relationships aren't always glamorous, things aren't always going to be perfect and dealing with life and the things it throws at you will leave its marks on both partners. But that doesn't mean the relationship isn't worth keeping and fighting for.

This is my favourite quote from the book:

Early love is exciting and exhilarating. It's light and bubbly. Anyone can love like that. But after three children, after a separation and a near-divorce, after you've hurt each other and forgiven each other, bored each other and surprised each other, after you've seen the worst and the best-- well, that sort of love is ineffable. It deserves its own word.

On that note, have you read What Alice Forgot or any other Liane Moriarty book? And what did you think of it? Let me know!

Happy reading!
xx
ivymuse