Forget Me Not: A Memoir (Hardcover)

by Jennifer Lowe-anker (Author), Jon Krakauer (Foreword) "IT HADN'T OCCURRED TO ME that we would see Shishapangma from our plane as we flew toward Kathmandu..." (more)
Key Phrases: endless knot, young climbers, New York, Salt Lake City, Gordon Wiltsie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A painful, beautiful and truthful memoir... Jennifer Lowe-Anker is a fluid and expressive observer of substantive, named details in nature, the minute study of which she and Alex shared, and of their lives. The book is most revelatory." -- Rock and Ice Magazine

"Forget Me Not is a sweet, honest, and heartfelt recount of Jenni's life... Jenni's words flow freely and truthfully, recounting both good and bad, pain and joy in her life with Alex. What is perhaps most poignant is her love of place, of Montana, of the wildflower fields of her youth, and of summer days spent with her grandmother in the land she loves. This is a story of true love, in many different regards." --Outside Bozeman

"Given Alex Lowe's high profile as one of the world's best climbers, it stands to reason that several notable authors [are] qualified to recount his life and accomplishments in the first book following his tragic death below a massive avalanche on Shishapangma. But no one is more qualified than his widow, Jennifer Lowe-Anker... Jennifer delivers a candid glimpse into the life of a driving and complicated force otherwise known as Stewart Alexander Lowe." -- Gripped Magazine

"Honest memoir." -- Outside Magazine

"Partly a women's memoir and partly an exotic travel adventure story." -- Publishers Weekly

Review
"Forget Me Not is a moving tribute, written with candor and grace, that warms the heart and inspires the soul long after the last page is turned." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (May 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594850828
• ISBN-13: 978-1594850820
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #148,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, February 21, 2009

By	Eileen (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

Jennifer Lowe-Anker is a very good writer and her late husband Alex was probably even more gifted with words. I found the story very sad and depressing. Alex never put his wife or children first in his life. His life was all about Alex and where he wanted to go and what he wanted to climb. He didn't care if he missed birthdays, anniversaries or holidays. He didn't care if he made Jenni move away from her beloved, dying grandmother. He probably needed that attitude in order to survive as long as he did taking huge risks in an extreme sport. That Jenni chose him for her partner was her choice but I felt really badly for their children. In the forward, Jon Krakauer wrote that Alex loved his family unconditionally. Not true. He loved them to not make any demands on him. Jenni wrote that he was unpleasant when he could not have his way and get away. She put up with a lot and excused even more. She even acknowledged that some other climbers found him to be a prima donna. I think she found it easy to fall in love with another man just months after the death of Alex because she never felt really bound to him.

I also found it sad to discover that because climbers from industrialized nations have the time and money for this expensive, dangerous sport, that they employ native Sherpas and Tibetans as their guides and carriers putting them at huge risk. For these impoverished people, how could they not be tempted by the money? I have since found that the death and injury rate among these native people is even higher than for the climbers who employ them. More selfishness.

So, although the book was very well written, I guess I am the oddball who was not enthralled by Alex Lowe. He regularly risked his life, his son's father, for no other purpose than to feel like he was on top of the world. To me, a man is a hero when he puts his family and not himself first.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir to remember, May 6, 2008

By	Naomi M. Judd (Juneau, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Jennifer Lowe-Anker's captivating life story, she not only tells of her own life in poignant detail but those of so many intertwined. From the beginning as a reader it is hard not to be taken by the passionate relationships between climbers, lovers and friends. Lowe-Anker reminds us of our own loves and losses as she describes falling in love with one of the finest Alpinists of this time. When she writes of his loss, the pang of that raw anguish hits the reader, even though it is mentioned from the beginning.

Death is never an easy thing, but as the author points out it is all around us, ebbing with the tides of life on this earth. As someone in a climbing relationship as well, I particularly related to the fears and elements described in the relationship that Jennifer and Alex Lowe shared, though even if you aren't involved with climbing it captures the core of all human relationships. Reading about the life she lived after she had thought it ended was a show of confidence and courage that everyone can use a dose of.

This book will take you on a journey through many high summits, and a story of how some may find themselves despite the ever changing tides that life brings us. Above all else you will leave the last page rejuvenated to live and love every day to the fullest from reading this heartfelt story of the Lowe and Lowe-Anker family.

The center insert of black and white photos are particularly absorbing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book catches hold and doesn't let go, August 8, 2008

By	Susan Schwab - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My husband doesn't typically cry. He's not opposed to emoting and doesn't think real men don't cry. He just doesn't find much to cry about, so when he tried to read a passage aloud to me from Forget Me Not, but couldn't make it through for the emotion clogging his throat, he got my attention. Likewise, when my sister spotted the book lying on my coffee table and picked it up to take a quick perusal but ended up having to take it home because she couldn't put it down, I took note. Their reactions to Lowe-Anker's book paralleled my own. Although our reactions were similar, the reasons were different. My husband was moved beyond words by the Lowe boys' loss of their father, whereas my sister was hooked by sheer adventure: "Why read somebody's made-up story when this adventure is so amazing and it happened to real people!"

I read memoirs and biographies for their lessons on living. Lowe-Anker's memoir offers a look at the human spirit and its capacity for compromise, empathy, patience, trust, and forgiveness. Although this story is primarily supposed to be about Alex Lowe, I was drawn to the story of the plucky young woman who chose him as her mate and was struck by the tragedy of suddenly losing him. To be able to, to want to move on into a new marriage is a testament to the depth of love Alex and Jennifer shared. Long before I read this book, I happened across an image of one of Jennifer's paintings in a magazine. There were two horses; both were running, and launching herself midstride from one horse to another was a cowgirl. Now I understand the painting to be a leap of trust and faith in both the journey of a new relationship and in the heart of her new partner.

Forget Me Not is a book that braids the strands of relationships, discovery, adventure, love, loss, and courage into a story you won't be able to put down.