Scan barcode
A review by redheadreading
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
I enjoyed this, but I think the fact that my only other Moriarty was Nine Perfect Strangers left me waiting for a twist which never came - entirely my fault, not the book's! I kept wondering if there was going to be some hugely dramatic reveal for how Alice has seemingly changed so much in 10 years, I suspected the elusive Gina to be tied into far more salacious events, but really this is just an in-depth look at how a marriage can break down and people can change when they don't communicate properly. I did enjoy it, I found Moriarty's writing very easy to hoover up, but for my own personal taste it's definitely too long for the actual tale that's being told. Old Alice is very innocent and naive so she goes in circles a LOT which got repetitive - particularly because the narration often introduces a topic/person, then whizzes back to a bunch of random memories and thoughts Alice has before returning to that person and picking the plot back up.
I think Frannie's blog posts were an unnecessary addition, she didn't add anything, but I liked the presence of Elisabeth's therapy homework and exploration of her fertility struggles. It provided a real heart to the story. I think the strength of this is the way it makes you think about how we change as people, what makes us who we are, and how relationships work, but there was too much redundant information and description for my taste.
I think Frannie's blog posts were an unnecessary addition, she didn't add anything, but I liked the presence of Elisabeth's therapy homework and exploration of her fertility struggles. It provided a real heart to the story. I think the strength of this is the way it makes you think about how we change as people, what makes us who we are, and how relationships work, but there was too much redundant information and description for my taste.