Forget Me Not: A Memoir

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At the same time Alex's best friend, famed climber Conrad Anker, was dealing with the terrible loss as well as feelings of survivor's guilt. As Jon Krakauer wrote in the book's introduction, "Forget Me Not is more than a biography of one of the world's most talented climbers. The author handled her life's lot with grace and character, perhaps not always and every time, but enough to be impressive.

I read this book on Kindle and was glad that there were pictures to put a face to ones not familiar with. The story, while objectively sad – Alex Lowe, much-loved hero of the climbing world, husband, and father, dies in an avalanche and his family must find a way to continue without him – is narrated in a pretty emotionally bland way. But it really stands out as that rare bird: an honest account by a female American artist who is also a mother. Of course she never counted on losing him in such a tragic accident, but it was always in the back of her mind.While it is absolutely tragic that Alex died so young, he was doing one of the two thing on earth that he loved the most. She downplays her own abilities and talents, yet she appears to hold the resume of one hell of an accomplished climber as well as a talented and successful artist with a penchant for whimsical inspiration. It seemed an exemplary model for an age where more and more of might want things that take us to very different parts of the world than our partners.

Unexpectedly, the two fell in love, and the story of their life together forms the second part of this volume. I picked up this book because I was curious about the relationship dynamic between Alex Lowe and his wife, Jennifer Lowe-Anker (who wrote the book).

This book is a love story, a mountaineering story, an adventure story, a family story, a grief and healing story - all rolled into one. It's been a while since I couldn't put a book down, but this one took up two back-to-back evenings and I'm still thinking about it. Lowe's appeal has landed her work in private collections of such luminaries as Peter Fonda, Michael Keaton, Jeff Bridges and Jerry Spence, as well as in the corporate collections of Patagonia and Chronicle Books. He accomplished a lot and after his death, Jen tries keeping all the memories, tracing his steps and fills in the gap for her 3 sons.