When I Forgot

( 4 )

Overview

Alone in a Helsinki cafe, Anna, a young journalist, spends a day drinking coffee and reading Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. The novel, a gift from her professor and now lover, an American named Ian, becomes a lens through which Anna can view her own life. Compelling and poignant, the narrative floats in and out of geography and time, as Elina Hirvonen deftly intertwines the splintered childhood of Anna and her mentally ill brother with the troubled past of Ian and his father, a Vietnam vet. Finnish protests ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Alone in a Helsinki cafe, Anna, a young journalist, spends a day drinking coffee and reading Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. The novel, a gift from her professor and now lover, an American named Ian, becomes a lens through which Anna can view her own life. Compelling and poignant, the narrative floats in and out of geography and time, as Elina Hirvonen deftly intertwines the splintered childhood of Anna and her mentally ill brother with the troubled past of Ian and his father, a Vietnam vet. Finnish protests against the American invasion of Iraq provide the contemporary backdrop and portray the post-September 11, anti-American perspective.
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Editorial Reviews

Liesl Schillinger
In Mrs. Dalloway…Woolf embarked on a great experiment, showing how a lifetime may be contained and revealed in small, seemingly inconsequential details. Hirvonen repeats this experiment, differently yet deftly, and Douglas Robinson's translation is so smooth that, but for the foreign names, one could forget the book was not originally written in English…Potent, fragile and tender, When I Forgot is really the story of "When I Remembered," of a woman summoning the courage to unlock her memories and share them, and feeling the relief of exhaling a breath held too long.
—The New York Times
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780980243659
  • Publisher: Tin House Books
  • Publication date: 5/5/2009
  • Edition description: Original
  • Pages: 192
  • Sales rank: 1,000,522
  • Product dimensions: 5.00 (w) x 7.70 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 4 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 30, 2009

    Very well written story of a sisters struggle to escape.

    When I forgot is a story about a young journalist living around the time of the world trade center attacks. Throughout the story she retells events of her past involving her family and her mentally ill brother while also reaching out to her professor Ian and allowing him to open up and share the hard truth about his past involving his father.

    I found myself drawn to this book from the first page all the way to the last page and once I started reading it I was unable to put it down. I feel that Elina Hirvonen did an amazing job telling Anna's story. It was a little bit confusing trying to differentiate between Ian's life and Anna's life but after the first few chapters it became easier.

    I feel that even with the sadness that the story revolves around Elina did a good job of keeping the book from getting too depressing. I felt it was a very good book and I will be sure to recommend it to all my friends.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

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    Posted May 9, 2009

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    Posted May 10, 2009

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 6, 2009

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