What Alice Forgot

Alice Mary Love is the protagonist of the story, as well as the primary narrator. She is a dynamic character who evolves significantly over the course of the novel. As a 29-year-old, Alice is characterized as the happy and loving wife of Nick. She is spontaneous, silly, and naive. As a 39-year-old, Alice is far more efficient and assertive than her younger self. Her unrecognizable inner voice snaps at her to hurry to complete a list of chores. She ably parents her three children, Madison, Tom, and Olivia, and speaks assertively to Nick’s personal assistant. In addition to finding her strength, Alice has become embittered, rude, and snobbish. These are characteristics she does not like, and after her head injury, she works to smooth over the harsh edges of her personality that developed in response to feeling hurt: Alice is grief-stricken and angry over Gina’s death and the breakdown of her and Nick’s marriage.

Alice’s head injury is a narrative device that Moriarty uses as a “what if” scenario for the reader: What if you woke up and did not remember the last 10 years of your life? This narrative device allows Moriarty to explore funny and serious events that result from Alice’s head injury without dwelling on the medical reality of whether such an injury would be possible or if it would be life-threatening.