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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
I liked it a lot at first. But then it was less interesting. A bit boring, when all was said and done.
Krysha’s homework for Liane Moriarty…
This book is very special, and I feel like it’s a love letter to moms, and people just living on autopilot. As I was reading this I wondered, “how old are you, Liane?”, and I looked it up and found out you’re right about 20 years older than the main character. I wonder if part of this may be a love letter to your younger self? You know what’s funny, Liane? I am actually the same age as the main character! Her experiences really had me pondering myself, my relationship with my family, and just life and existence in general. I also thought about how much my life had changed over the past 10 years, I only have two kids, and feel pretty good about things, but there were moments when Alice would automatically respond without thinking (usually to her children) and boy oh boy could I relate to that. Her journey felt incredibly similar to my own, but obviously you had to take SOME creative liberties (wink wink).
I don’t want to get into a diatribe of parental musings and such, but I do want to say this, Liane, I continue to believe that you sit down to write a novel and think “what does Krysha need right now? (Here One Moment or What Alice Forgot) or what would Krysha enjoy and escape from life with? (Big Little Lies or 9 Perfect Strangers)”. You have yet to disprove my theory (shhhh we promised we’d never talk about the Husband’s Secret, remember?!).
Anywho, again and always, thank you, Liane.
-Krysha
This book is very special, and I feel like it’s a love letter to moms, and people just living on autopilot. As I was reading this I wondered, “how old are you, Liane?”, and I looked it up and found out you’re right about 20 years older than the main character. I wonder if part of this may be a love letter to your younger self? You know what’s funny, Liane? I am actually the same age as the main character! Her experiences really had me pondering myself, my relationship with my family, and just life and existence in general. I also thought about how much my life had changed over the past 10 years, I only have two kids, and feel pretty good about things, but there were moments when Alice would automatically respond without thinking (usually to her children) and boy oh boy could I relate to that. Her journey felt incredibly similar to my own, but obviously you had to take SOME creative liberties (wink wink).
I don’t want to get into a diatribe of parental musings and such, but I do want to say this, Liane, I continue to believe that you sit down to write a novel and think “what does Krysha need right now? (Here One Moment or What Alice Forgot) or what would Krysha enjoy and escape from life with? (Big Little Lies or 9 Perfect Strangers)”. You have yet to disprove my theory (shhhh we promised we’d never talk about the Husband’s Secret, remember?!).
Anywho, again and always, thank you, Liane.
-Krysha
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Alice is flighty and so naive. I think it’s supposed to be endearing but it just annoyed me. Alice has gone from a flighty, somewhat dingy woman into an overly organized, overly involved stay at home mother with Martha Stewart tendencies. She cooks, cleans, volunteers, works out — but the character we know would not be capable of this. Why was this included in the storyline? Example quote from the book (referring to Alice talking to her 3 kids for the first time since losing her memory) “ what would she say to them? This felt worse than trying to think up appropriate conversation topics before going to one of Nick’s scary work parties.”
Elizabeth is her bitter, infertile sister. Elizabeth and her husband do get pregnant and having a baby girl, which they name after Frannie.
Frannie really has no point in the book. She writes letters that allow the reader inside her head, but I’m really not sure why we need to be there. Just an extra character. Plus it was pointed out over and over again that she was not related to Alice, but at the end of the book she mentions that Alice’s mom is her daughter.
Gina is also pointless. She is written as kind of a brash, boozy loudmouth. We find out she died in a car wreck on the way home from spin class. The point of her character? None. It was built up to be somewhat mysterious, but there wasn’t any mystery or story there.
SUMMARY
Alice falls and bumps her head during her weekly Friday spin class. She comes to and thinks she is 29, not 39, and thinks she’s pregnant with her first child, when really she has three children. She can’t remember anything from the last 10 years — not even the fact that she and her husband, Nick, are separated and going through a nasty divorce.
People keep mentioning someone named Gina. Alice first assumes that Gina and Nick had an affair, which would explain why they are separated. She finds out that Gina was her best friend who lived across the street, and that Gina has died in a car crash.
Elizabeth, her sister, has not been close to pre-amnesia Alice, which confuses Alice. Elizabeth is infertile and is very sad and bitter.
Frannie is a grandmother-type figure who the reader gets to know through letters she writes to Phil. Phil was her fiancé long ago, and he died in a diving accident before they got married. Throughout the book, she writes letters to Phil and tells him about “Mr. Mustache”/Xavier who becomes her boyfriend/husband.
Elizabeth is her bitter, infertile sister. Elizabeth and her husband do get pregnant and having a baby girl, which they name after Frannie.
Frannie really has no point in the book. She writes letters that allow the reader inside her head, but I’m really not sure why we need to be there. Just an extra character. Plus it was pointed out over and over again that she was not related to Alice, but at the end of the book she mentions that Alice’s mom is her daughter.
Gina is also pointless. She is written as kind of a brash, boozy loudmouth. We find out she died in a car wreck on the way home from spin class. The point of her character? None. It was built up to be somewhat mysterious, but there wasn’t any mystery or story there.
SUMMARY
Alice falls and bumps her head during her weekly Friday spin class. She comes to and thinks she is 29, not 39, and thinks she’s pregnant with her first child, when really she has three children. She can’t remember anything from the last 10 years — not even the fact that she and her husband, Nick, are separated and going through a nasty divorce.
People keep mentioning someone named Gina. Alice first assumes that Gina and Nick had an affair, which would explain why they are separated. She finds out that Gina was her best friend who lived across the street, and that Gina has died in a car crash.
Elizabeth, her sister, has not been close to pre-amnesia Alice, which confuses Alice. Elizabeth is infertile and is very sad and bitter.
Frannie is a grandmother-type figure who the reader gets to know through letters she writes to Phil. Phil was her fiancé long ago, and he died in a diving accident before they got married. Throughout the book, she writes letters to Phil and tells him about “Mr. Mustache”/Xavier who becomes her boyfriend/husband.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this started out as a 4+ star book, but the last few chapters absolutely killed it for me. The last few chapters of this book tie things up in a way that is so trite that it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Alice wakes up in the gym after a fall and has somehow lost 10 years of her life, including every single moment with her children, the details leading to and including her divorce proceedings, her mother's marriage to her obnoxious father-in-law (yes, you read that right), her sister's prolonged struggle with infertility, the entirety of her relationship with her best friend (and her friend's traumatic death), and her doting new boyfriend. She finds that she is a completely different person with a completely different personality, set of hobbies, likes/dislikes, and almost everything else. She doesn't love who she's become.
I found this to be a really interesting concept, though I struggled to connect with Alice. I didn't really enjoy how the alternate POVs—those of sister and adopted grandmother—were written through letters; it just didn't work for me. I think it would have been better with 3 narrators rather than a narrator and two letter-writers. Still, I enjoyed listening and found it engaging... until the end. I can't really be specific without adding spoilers, but suffice it to say that the struggles that Moriarty has portrayed in some really beautiful ways (divorce, miscommunication, grief, infertility, parenting, moving on) are essentially magicked away. This was really jarring to me. It felt insincere and shortsighted to essentially make light of everything that happened throughout. I wish the book had ended with the nuance that it was filled with throughout.
Alice wakes up in the gym after a fall and has somehow lost 10 years of her life, including every single moment with her children, the details leading to and including her divorce proceedings, her mother's marriage to her obnoxious father-in-law (yes, you read that right), her sister's prolonged struggle with infertility, the entirety of her relationship with her best friend (and her friend's traumatic death), and her doting new boyfriend. She finds that she is a completely different person with a completely different personality, set of hobbies, likes/dislikes, and almost everything else. She doesn't love who she's become.
I found this to be a really interesting concept, though I struggled to connect with Alice. I didn't really enjoy how the alternate POVs—those of sister and adopted grandmother—were written through letters; it just didn't work for me. I think it would have been better with 3 narrators rather than a narrator and two letter-writers. Still, I enjoyed listening and found it engaging... until the end. I can't really be specific without adding spoilers, but suffice it to say that the struggles that Moriarty has portrayed in some really beautiful ways (divorce, miscommunication, grief, infertility, parenting, moving on) are essentially magicked away. This was really jarring to me. It felt insincere and shortsighted to essentially make light of everything that happened throughout. I wish the book had ended with the nuance that it was filled with throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Infidelity
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Skip the first like 100 pages of this book. Then it actually gets good. Too many letter from Frannie - that entire part could have been cut out. Not necessary for the storyline.
I loved the amnesia of it all and how Alice could still go on auto pilot and do certain things and get to certain places.
It was clear Nick and Alice would work it out from the beginning. Not her best work.
I loved the amnesia of it all and how Alice could still go on auto pilot and do certain things and get to certain places.
It was clear Nick and Alice would work it out from the beginning. Not her best work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Moderate: Death, Miscarriage
DNF: Het gebeurd niet gauw dat ik een boek niet uit lees maar dit is toch echt een DNF geworden. Ik heb het geprobeerd door het gewoon zelf te lezen en als luisterboek te luisteren maar ik kwam er niet door heen. Ik vond bij het lezen de tussenstukjes erg vervelend en snapte in het begin niet zo goed wat dat nu voor nut had in het verhaallijn. Toen ik het boek later als luisterboek had opgepakt werd ik nog niet enthousiast van het verhaal. De vertelstem vond ik niet boeiend genoeg waardoor ik het boek ook makkelijk dagen achter een niet luisterde.
Jammer dat mijn eerste ervaring met Liane zo is tegen gevallen want de meeste zijn juist lovend over haar werk. Toch wil ik mij niet laten afschrikken door deze eerste ervaring met Liane en hoop in de toekomst zeker nog wel een keer een ander boek van haar op te pakken.
Spoiler
van Huiswerk voor dokter HodgesJammer dat mijn eerste ervaring met Liane zo is tegen gevallen want de meeste zijn juist lovend over haar werk. Toch wil ik mij niet laten afschrikken door deze eerste ervaring met Liane en hoop in de toekomst zeker nog wel een keer een ander boek van haar op te pakken.