How old are you, Alice?”“I’m twenty-nine, Jane.” Alice was irritated by Jane’s dramatic tone. What was she getting at? “Same age as you.”Jane sat back up and looked at George Clooney triumphantly.She said, “I just got an invitation to her fortieth birthday.”That was the day Alice Mary Love went to the gym and carelessly misplaced a decade of her life.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1 paragraph 172)

Importance: This quote sets up Alice losing her memory, which is the driving conflict throughout the book. When the author states that she "carelessly misplaced a decade of her life," it is implies a judgment that it is Alice's fault and not the result of a medical injury. This foreshadows the many reactions Alice gets to her memory loss and how some people frame her memory loss as something she is responsible for and not just an injury.

It reinforces this feeling I have that...
-- Elisabeth (Chapter 3 paragraph 72)