What Alice Forgot

It took me a while to get into this book, but I don't think that I ever fully engaged with it. The premise of the book is good, so I wanted to really like it, but it was missing something for me and it was too long. It's not a bad book, but has left me felling not sure that I want to read another of her books.

Good read....particularly for a woman who is married with children. I enjoyed the author's writing style, too.

Enjoyable read. I appreciated the interaction between the "young Alice" and the "older Alice". It made me think about how we change over the years. I thought the parts written by her sister Elizabeth to her psychologist added a lot to the story line but not so much the parts by her adopted grandmother Frannie.

What struck me the most was the thoughtful views on marriage. "It was never so much that Dominick was wrong for her and that Nick was right. She may have had a perfectly happy life with Dominick. But Nick was Nick…They could look at an old photo together and travel back in time to the same place…" Marriage cannot be simply put asunder, because of the tangled threads ("How strange [divorce] was. Wouldn't it be a lot less messy if everyone just stayed with the people they married in the first place?"). Time binds: "Each memory, good and bad, was another invisible thread that bound them together, even when they were foolishly thinking they could lead separate lives." It's not a romantic view of marriage, but nor is it a cynical one, and it seems to me a very true one. There is actually something quite beautiful in it: "Early love is exciting and exhilarating…Anyone can love like that. But love after three children, after 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."

I've heard about this book for so long; I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It is well written, witty and the laungauge and emotions of the characters are spot on. I liked the storyline-what if you suddenly bumped your head and couldn't remember the last ten years of your life? That is exactly what happened to Alice. Imagine thinking you are happily married & pregnant with your 1st child when you actually have 3 children and are in the middle of a divorce. All the things you just take for granted, you have to relearn. In the midst of all this craziness, there are 2 other story lines woven in. We read letters from Alice's "adopted" grandmother to her deceased fiancé and her sister's "homework" to her therapist. I really liked both of these because it gave us a glimpse into Alice's life prior to her bump on the head. Lots to discuss-what makes a family, family dynamics, can you ever truly get back things you thought were lost?

could not get into this book at all...Alice may have forgotten something but she's overly talkative!