I read this book in 24 hours and couldn’t put it down. I have a full time job so this feat involved a few long escapes to the bathroom when I couldn’t put it down.

Alice hits her head and wakes up on the floor of the gym thinking it’s 1998 instead of 2008. All her memories of the past 10 years are gone- last she remembers she is pregnant with her first child, Bill Clinton’s sex scandal was in the news, and she is happily married to Nick. So it is a shock to learn she now is the mother of 3 and she and Nick are in the process of separating.

She has no recollection of her other children being born, doesn’t recognize her new circle of friends, her problems with Nick, or her new boyfriend.

Alice’s temporary amnesia takes her outside of her “busy busy busy” life and relaxes the social expectations of those around her, allowing her to see things in a new way and change her behavior. It is perhaps this extreme ability to step outside her life that makes the story so appealing. As the book proceeds we cheer on the old Alice of 1998, not wanting 2008 tiger mom Alice to return.

I’m not going to spoil the ending but will say it is a gratifyingly happy one. A fitting end to a very pleasurable read.