Imprint Friday: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Amy Einhorn Books. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

I admit that the back-of-the-book tag line of Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot was the first thing that caught my attention: "Finally, a smart woman's beach read." Doesn't that make you want to know more? Then I took a look at the summary and decided I had to read about Alice:

Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she hates the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.

Fun, yes? Well, okay, not fun if that actually happened to you, but still, poor Alice! Can you imagine thinking you're ten years younger than you are and having no recollection of your kids or how you went from a loving marriage to one full of tension and bickering? Through humor and an easy-to-read style, Moriarty gives Alice a chance to reevaluate her life and take a fresh look and what she has forgotten.

Beneath the Hollywood-like premise, though, Moriarty explores deeper themes, such as infertility, infidelity, friendship, parenthood, and family. What Alice Forgot may be a light, fast read on one level, but it will also make you think about your own life and what you may have forgotten, even without the amnesia.

I was curious about how Moriarty came up with the idea for Alice and went exploring. I found the answer on her website. The basis of the novel combines the author's interest in time travel with a real-life news story about a woman who had lost her memory. Moriarty says, "I realized that memory loss is a form of time travel." I like that thought and what it brings to the book.

I'm pleased that I'm not the only one recommending What Alice Forgot; here are a few other opinions (click on the links for the full reviews):

• Alyce, from At Home with Books, notes: "All in all it is an entertaining and thought-provoking book about how relationships and parenthood can define us and change us over the years."
• Gayle, from Everyday I Write the Book, notes: "[T]his was . . . a surprisingly satisfying book on some deeper levels. I found the unpeeling of the story of why Alice's marriage had fallen apart to be pretty compelling."
• Swapna, from S. Krishna's Books, notes: "It isn’t your typical woman-gets-amnesia, realizes-she’s-horrible, mends-her-ways novel; instead, Moriarty presents a carefully crafted and moving portrait of one woman struggling to understand who she is."

Amy Einhorn Books is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For more information about the imprint, please read Amy Einhorn's open letter posted here on January 25, 2010, or click the Amy Einhorn tab below my banner photo. To join the Amy Einhorn Books Reading Challenge, click the link.

What Alice Forgot at an Indie

What Alice Forgot at Powell's

What Alice Forgot at Book Depository
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Published by Putnam / Amy Einhorn Books, June 2011
ISBN-13: 9780399157189