This is a deeply moving text about the vulnerability of children.

The little boy carries a sorrow and hopelessness within that no one can protect themselves from. He describes with precision how he observed his mother when she was not behaving like her usual self. All the bottles, how she would just lie in her bed, the fear of what might happen to her, and the responsibility of protecting her from the eyes of outsiders. Nobody must find out...

And then the sorrow and worry about the family not being okay. There was no one to turn to for guidance or comfort. Nothing but loneliness. And motherlessness. The mother whom he loved so dearly was no longer there, and he missed her. And he missed affection from others as well.

The years pass, and the situation both worsens and improves. A sad family history is revealed with a sense of coldness, silence, and distance.

Alex says that he writes to recreate his childhood, to come to terms with the person he himself was and to remember the person he so longed for, namely the person that she was in those first years when her arms were still open. The person as shown on the cover of this book, an image of his mother and himself, which he found when clearing her house.

The title Gloym meg ei (Forget me) refers to the mother’s words when she would not acknowledge or speak of her alcoholism. A terribly sad situation!