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nairam1173 's review for:
The Lost Year
by Katherine Marsh
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
I had mixed feelings on this! One major thing is that I didn't really like the frame story, especially for the first half or so. I will admit that maybe kids are ready for (and in need of!) Covid Books, but I am just really not. It's all still very recent and honestly ongoing, and it's not something I really want to experience through fiction, especially in reductive (though thankfully not cruel) ways.
But again, the needs of modern kids who experienced what Matthew did instead of the Adult Version may find important representation in his struggles, which also become deeper as the book progresses.
I was drawn to this book because of the inclusion of the holodomor, something I'm still shocked I didn't learn about until my junior year of college. It's especially timely with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the similar tactics being employed as far as the full-scale attack on Ukrainian culture and identity (this book addresses mainly the famine, but learning about the famine is an important element in understanding Russian/Ukrainian relationships).
One element I'm quite impressed with is how it resolved what I saw as a POV problem through much of the book. It is clever and heartbreaking, and I think goes deeper into the emotional and thematic resonance at work. It also would make for intriguing rereads.
Occasionally I found the opinions of the various main characters a little on the nose, and the characterization of some adults as very one note. Some of the story resolutions helped, though did not always solve, these issues.
So overall I think I see it as a flawed, but not bad, book about a very important and unknown historical event, with a strong emotional throughlines and several compelling characters.
But again, the needs of modern kids who experienced what Matthew did instead of the Adult Version may find important representation in his struggles, which also become deeper as the book progresses.
I was drawn to this book because of the inclusion of the holodomor, something I'm still shocked I didn't learn about until my junior year of college. It's especially timely with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the similar tactics being employed as far as the full-scale attack on Ukrainian culture and identity (this book addresses mainly the famine, but learning about the famine is an important element in understanding Russian/Ukrainian relationships).
One element I'm quite impressed with is how it resolved what I saw as a POV problem through much of the book. It is clever and heartbreaking, and I think goes deeper into the emotional and thematic resonance at work. It also would make for intriguing rereads.
Occasionally I found the opinions of the various main characters a little on the nose, and the characterization of some adults as very one note. Some of the story resolutions helped, though did not always solve, these issues.
So overall I think I see it as a flawed, but not bad, book about a very important and unknown historical event, with a strong emotional throughlines and several compelling characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic