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librariandest 's review for:

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
4.0

This was close to a 5-star read for me. It reminded me of [b:Number the Stars|47281|Number the Stars|Lois Lowry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630542426l/47281._SX50_.jpg|2677305] because it includes the story of a girl trying to save another girl from becoming a victim of a historical atrocity.

I listened to the audiobook, which was well done, but felt slow to me at times. I didn't like the Matthew chapters where he was fighting with his mom during the early days of the Covid pandemic. His angst about having his Switch taken away felt extraneous to the main story, which was the 1930s Soviet famine. But I did like Matthew's relationship with GG.

Maybe I missed something because I listened to the audiobook at 1.5x speed, but what is the meaning of the title in relation to the famine? It doesn't make sense to me.