Amy Nguyen’s Reviews > The Keeper of Lost Art > Status Update

A story of how Stella lost everything but found everything at the same time. Her world changed, she changed. How she grew out of these difficult times. E.g. not wanting to be in school to wanting to be in school

Hard to get a sense of time. Everything moves quickly - the war, Sandra’s loss of vision. When Stella is back in the school house, it says 1 year ago it was a place of fear

Stella and Sandro collect British/american surrender leaflets for sketch paper as the Germans are ignoring the leaflets

Despite everything going on, I have a hard time feeling what they’re experiencing.

Quite repetitive. School is a distant memory replaced with chores. Community works together to do all chores. It’s like a mini town

Unlike enemy women, the German soldiers just seem like a nuisance and a drain on resources, rather than something greatly feared. They are perceived as just needing somewhere to stay and not a true threat.

There’s lots of talk in the book about food being so scarce yet the meals they’re making still sound luxurious in terms of ingredients (not quantity). E.g. pasta with rabbit, tomato, garlic, rosemary etc