Ponder Post: What Alice Forgot

Alice falls off a stationary bicycle during an intense spin class at the gym, hits her head, and gets a concussion... accompanied by a decade's worth of amnesia. She truly believes she is at a point in time ten years earlier when she is pregnant with her first child and is madly in love with her husband. He and she are painstakingly and lovingly in the midst of renovating a vintage house together and ecstatic about the birth of their baby. But where are they now? The book What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty highlights how much of our daily interactions, fears, and attitudes hinge on our past experiences. Take away those experiences and we just may be an entirely different person.

This is the third of Liane Moriarty's books I have read. I gave The Husband's Secret high praise and five stars and The Hypnotist's Love Story a paltry two stars so I wondered where this novel would fall on her spectrum. Alice's daily challenges of interfacing with people and events – without a clue as to the backstory influencing them – were amusing, revealing, surprising, and a bit alarming. The aplomb with which she handled people and situations, often while being blindsided and plagued by self-doubts, was admirable. The characters are well portrayed. Their angst and struggles and joys and pleasures seemed real and understandable to me. The method of conveying the characters inner thoughts and feelings to the reader, in the form of letters and journals was effective and did not seem contrived.

What Alice Forgot gets four stars from me. It probably deserves four and a half stars but I couldn't muster up the computer symbol for that. This novel is not quite up there with The Husband's Secret but pretty darn close. This book raised several interesting topics for consideration. Just how much does a person change in ten years – not just physically but in attitudes and emotions as well? How big a role does communication play in a relationship? Children change a lot and go through phases but can this continue into adulthood? How strong an influence can friends and acquaintances exert? Can someone get a "do over" in life, kind of like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life? This is definitely a prime selection for a book club to read and discuss. It was very thought provoking and I enjoyed it immensely. I read it continuously Sunday afternoon through Sunday evening until I finished the whole thing the same day! Now that's a good book!