All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost

All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost

As I sit down to finally write about Lan Samantha Chang’s novel All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost, I am thinking that all really is forgotten.

This is the story of a very prestigious writing school and it’s enigmatic teacher of poetry and her students. We follow the lives of 2 students in particular, Roman and Bernard. Although Roman gains success and fame from his writing, Bernard lives in poverty until his death, working for decades on a single poem. None of the characters were particularly memorable and there wasn’t much to the story.

However, at moments, Chang’s writing was so beautiful it reminded me almost of Marilyn Robinson, who she mentions in the book. But only for the briefest of moments. There is a haunting quality that remains with me after reading this novel, more than any of the details. For that alone, I liked it.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *