A review by mnboyer
All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

4.0

This is a book about two students in a poetry seminar at a prestigious college. I've seen a lot of reviews on here talking about their privilege and, I'm not going to disagree. That deffinitely comes out throughout the novel and makes the main character, Roman, quite unlikable. But I'd like to suggest that he gets his in the end. And to be fair, I'm actually not sure that I really enjoyed any of the characters or felt much for any of them.

Here's what I did find very appealing and also haunting--I took several poetry courses during my BA experience, and this does a very good job of summarizing the students and the feelings within those rooms. As someone that experienced this type of interaction I think I came into the novel with a different lens than some. I was a fan of this first section.

The second and third section were, honestly, less captivating, but I still had a desire to figure out what happened to Roman and Bernard. I don't like Roman. Bernard I'm just "meh" about. Overall its a well developed story--but is one that I think it help to lure you in if you've ever experienced poetry workshops. In that sense it might be a little exclusive and may actually push some general fiction readers away.

Overall, a 4-star captivating story, just doens't have remarkable characters.