Thursday, April 12, 2012

WHAT ALICE FORGOT: A (BOOK) REVIEW


One of the things on my "20 by 21" list is to read 400 "crap" books. Books that won't give me any pretentiousness points, books I won't want to quote during job interviews, and books that won't allow anyone to say I am well-read. Fun books, escapist books. 

My Macbook Pro is acting up, and is being shipped off for service for up to three weeks (yep, not happy) and my old black one is barely alive, so I have had a lot of free time due to being essentially computer-less. I actually went to a non-university library for the first time in what feels like forever!

I picked up a huge stack of books, and this is the first one that I have read so far. I think I might do a Thursday book review day from here on in! 

I picked this book up due to the bright cover. Yes, when I go shopping for a fluffy book, the cover plays a huge role. 

Goodreads said: 

"Remember the woman you used to be ...

Alice is twenty-nine. She is whimsical, optimistic and adores sleep, chocolate, her ramshackle new house and her wonderful husband Nick. What's more, she's looking forward to the birth of the 'Sultana' - her first baby. 

But now Alice has slipped and hit her head in her step-aerobics class and everyone's telling her she's misplaced the last ten years of her life.

In fact, it would seem that Alice is actually thirty-nine and now she loves schedules, expensive lingerie, caffeine and manicures. She has three children and the honeymoon is well and truly over for her and Nick. In fact, he looks at her like she's his worst enemy. What's more, her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her either. And who is this 'Gina'everyone is so carefully trying not to mention? 

Alice isn't sure that she likes life ten years on. Every photo is another memory she doesn't have and nothing makes sense. Just how much can happen in a decade? Has she really lost her lovely husband for ever?" 

                  You look at this, and you think to yourself "This will be just like a Sophie Kinsella book" and it both is and is not. I have to say that Sophie Kinsella's work is far better, and well balanced. This book was good, but highly imbalanced with details that were completely useless and past histories that were left unexplained and caused the book to lack the depth it really needed to be great. 

This book could have used another hundred pages or so at the end,  because the ending switched everything up at the last minute for no apparent reason, and it seemed as though the author herself didn't know. This, however, is a common complaint of mine. I like a decent ending, and so often it seems as though authors get bored towards the end of the book and decide to just end it there, leaving a book that had 400+ pages of buildup with a 20 page climax/conclusion. Not okay! 

Overall, I would rate this book 3/5 stars. Not terrible, actually quite pleasant, but I am glad that I checked it out at the library. I wouldn't go out of my way to hunt it down!
   


1 comment:

Thank you! I love to read and respond to your comments.