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When I Forgot (2005)

by Elina Hirvonen(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0980243653 (ISBN13: 9780980243659)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Tin House Books

review 1: I read this book during the summer. Interesting. Intense. Not really connected to Mrs. Dalloway in the way I expected. But it is a look at another culture--Finnish--and the life of an American in this culture. The tragedy of the brother involve some of the most heartbreaking scenes...Really good, I'd probably give it a higher rating if I had talked about it in a bookclub. At this point I've forgotten the sense I had while reading.
review 2: Elina Hirvonen’s novel When I Forgot, is a striking portrayal of two adults dealing with the mental illness of close family members. The reader is drawn into the lives of Ian and Anna, two Finnish writers. Hirvonen explores the scars left by each character’s experience with mental illness. She demonstrates the diffi... moreculty of living one’s own life successfully while dealing with a kind of survivor’s guilt at leaving behind the ill family member. We learn early on that Anna’s brother, Joona, is a paranoid schizophrenic, though the author never explicitly names his illness. Anna’s boyfriend and professor, Ian, struggles with his father’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Alcoholism, as well. Ultimately, Hirvonen leaves the reader with hopefulness that Ian and Anna will be able to live their live healthfully and happily despite their brushes with illness. Overall the novel is well written and engaging. However, Hirvonen’s sub-story surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks seems out of place. I think it detracts from the main conflict and is not thoroughly developed enough to bring any great meaning to the novel or to the event itself. less

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