Aussie Book challenge 2011 #7

What Alice Forget, tells the story of a women who thinks it's the year 1998, about to have her first child and is happily married to her husband, Nick. But a bump on the noggin changed all that....
What would you do if you lost 10 years of your life and all the wonderful moments you were looking forward to already happened, but you don't remember? How would you feel waking up to emotions that were still very much alive in your heart and thoughts, only for the true reality of it to be very different? How would you feel if you realized that you may not like yourself very much and question what you've become?
For Alice Love, lossing her memory might just be the best thing that's ever happened to her.

This my friends, is a sensational book!

Liane Moriarty truely has written such a brilliant book! Those who know me understand my love/hate relationship with contemporary, and I've always claimed that I'm not much of a fan, so this goes to show you that it takes the right book to get me gushing.

I've always been fascinated with memory-lost type books, but rarely stumble upon them, or well, to this extent anyways. I love the way Moriarty writes this in a way that it feels just as confusing and muddled for the reader as it does the charcter. Not that I was confused, but I felt like I was through Alice. I don't think I'm explaining right, so your just going to have to read the book to see what I mean. But I loved that...detached feeling that we got from Alice's life. There were so many times I would stop and wonder what I would do if I lost my memory. How devastated I would feel if I couldn't remember my own children or my relationships with friends, sisters or even my own husband. Very thought provoking stuff. I could really sympathize with what Alice was going through.

I really loved these characters. Alice's 'younger' mind is like a breath of fresh air. So sweet and spirited almost childlike. Her 'older' self I didn't like so much. To controlling in an out of control lifestyle. Nick is one of those characters that you want to grow old with, and even though I felt like I knew him better through Alice's memories and I was slightly annoyed that we didn't get the 'present' Nick till halfway through the book, he still made a huge impact with how I wanted the story to end.
I adored their children, Madison, Tom and Olivia. Such personalities! Truly adorable.
I think I could have lived without Elizabeth's homework entries, not that she wasn't an interesting character, but I'm more of a focussed on one issues kind of reader and wanted to get back into Alice's story. That's just me being impatient really.

Basically, I just loved this book. It's extraordinarily well wrtitten and the concept blew my mind. What I loved the most was that this story was quite simple. Sure there were tragic times, but there was no huge devastation, scandal or catastrophes. It's just a story about one womens life and how beautiful fate can really be.
It's uplifting, warm, funny, smart and made me feel all good inside.
It also made me want to hug my kids and my husband and breath them in, turning me into a sentimental fool, but there it is.

Another great Aussie-experience! An amazing read!

Special thanks to, Liane Moriarty, the goodreads- First-Read program and Penguin Group Publishing!