What Alice Forgot {A Book Review}

If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water it was jump out, but if you put a frog in water and slowly warm it up, it will cook to death.  I use this analogy with the teens in the youth group when trying to explain moral relativism. (Or, in other words, how morality is slow to move on a day to day basis, but from generation to generation there are big changes)

We talk about this analogy so often that I find myself constantly wondering what it would be like to be transported to the future...to see what the world is like and to see what would shock me.  It would be like the frog hitting that hot water, all jumpy and weird, shocked.  But we only get to live our lives one day at a time, so things wear on us over time, and change little by little, day by day.

In What Alice Forgot, Alice fainted during spin class at instantly lost 10 years of memories.  She was “transformed” to her 1998 way of life: simple and newly married with a baby on the way.  But it is still her 2008 life: busy, busy, busy, coffee-drinking mom-of-the-year, super-mom of three in the middle of an ugly divorce.  Alice can’t remember how her life got from point A to point B.  Or why.

In this 400 page beach read, Alice quickly relearns her family, re-falls in love with her almost ex-husband, finds her mother married to her father-in-law, and discovers her sister has been struggling with infertility.  

It’s a heartwarming story with a happy ending.  A little predictable, but enough mystery that keeps you reading. It will leave you examining your own life, the decisions you make, and carefully considering your ten year plan.  


*****


This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own. Join in the conversation!