When I Forgot
2005
First Published
3.40
Average Rating
160
Number of Pages
When I Forgot is an astonishingly assured and compelling debut novel about the love siblings have for each other, the past they share, and the painful memories that shape their lives forever. An astonishingly assured and compelling debut, When I Forgot explores the relationship between a sister and her brother, the past that they share, and the painful memories that shape their lives forever. Anna is on her way to the hospital where her brother has been institutionalized when she falters, and in that pause her world splinters in a blazing display of memory and madness, of childhood security treasured and shattered, and of families blighted by psychological trauma―her brother's and that of her boyfriend's father, a Vietnam vet. September 11 serves as a backdrop for the story, and the Finnish perspective on America and its politics is as uncomfortable as it is compelling. In Elina Hirvonen's skillful hands, the grimness is illuminated by firecracker insight and surprising beauty. And, above all, there is hope.
Avg Rating
3.40
Number of Ratings
1,110
5 STARS
14%
4 STARS
31%
3 STARS
38%
2 STARS
14%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads
Author
Elina Hirvonen
Author · 8 books
a Finnish writer, journalist and documentary film-maker. Hirvonen's first novel Että hän muistaisi saman (When I Forgot) was first published in Finland in 2005. It was shortlisted for the Finlandia Prize. An English translation is to be published in November 2007. Her first documentary feature film, Paradise: Three journeys in this world, is about migration from Africa to Europe. It premiered in Helsinki in 2007. This film also won the first prize in the category 'medium length films' of the Rhodes ecofilms and video arts festival in June 2008
