Book Review 2015: What Alice Forgot

I'm so behind on my book reviews. I'm going to try and maybe post a few a week until I'm caught up.

**All reviews published on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five-star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

This was the second book I read for my book club. When I started reading it, I had a feeling I would give it maybe a 2-star rating. It seemed to drag on and I couldn't get into it. I would say about a third of the way through, the story picked up and I ended up enjoying it (hence the overall rating of 3.5 stars).

The description of the book seemed very promising. A woman wakes up on the gym floor, thinking that she's 29 years old, happily married, and pregnant with her first child. Turns out she's 39, divorced, and the mother of three children. She somehow lost ten years of her life. Once she realizes what has happened, she's determined to repair her marriage, and the friendship with her sister (they are barely speaking now). Like I said, it started out kind of slow so if you read it, stick with it, it will improve.

The writing was done in third person, but it goes back and forth between letters from the sister and diary entries from Alice's adopted grandmother. It might sound confusing, but the style worked and flowed nicely. 

While reading this book, I put myself in Alice's shoes (because I'm a nerd and try and relate to characters in the books that I read). :) What would it be like to lose the last ten years of my life? I tried to think back to the person I was ten years ago. I'll confess, there are things going on in my life now that 19-year-old* Rachel would not expect. She would be shocked at some things, and probably disappointed in other things. I'm not completely the same person I was back then (granted, my life changes were NOTHING like Alice's). By the way, not being the same person I was ten years ago isn't ALL bad.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the book, and plan on reading it, don't look at the spoiler below (I hope I did the code right so it doesn't automatically show up). If you have read it, or don't plan on reading it, feel free to click the "show" button below to see spoilers on how I felt about the ending. 

While reading the book, I was convinced that I did not want her to get back with her husband. I was happy that she had moved on to a new guy. Also, that kind of ending seemed too "predictable". Towards the end of the book, it looked like they were not going to reconcile, and she was going to end up with the new guy she had been dating. I realized then that I DID want her back with her husband, and I was disappointed. Then in the epilogue she was back with her husband and her family was happy. :)

Overall, I think it's a good read and I plan on checking out other books by the author (this was the first book of hers that I have read).

*Okay, fine. I wasn't 19 ten years ago, I was 26-years-old. Are you happy now? Lol.

XOXO!