Reviews tagging 'Death'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

179 reviews

nikkicik's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Classism, War, Murder, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Medical trauma

floatwiththesticks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book consumed me. I felt incomplete whenever I wasn’t reading, and was desperate to get back to it. I’m not sure I’ve ever read such an engrossing love story and I’m certain I’ve never read anything that put me on the front lines of a war. I really feel like I lived the trenches with them - and that is this author’s astounding talent.
If England is magic, so is this novel. 

I GRIEVED GAUNT ALONG WITH ELWOOD AND LITERALLY SCREAMED WHEN HE WAS ALIVE!!!!!! I almost threw my kindle across the room in happiness. They’re so gorgeous together, I swooned. Idiots in love, friends to lovers, SLOW BURN A03 tags.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Death, Gore, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

meheehee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Grief, War, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, and Gun violence

elenit96's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The ending felt rushed. I would have liked to explore the effects the war (and the resulting "shell shock") had in one of the characters in more detail 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Body horror

anyatindale's review against another edition

emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

a tediously realistic story rendering the unfathomable physical and emotional burden of the war experience – comrades and friends dead at the length of a hand. two school boys find their place in belgium, forgetting themselves and each other in acts of violence, rediscover identity and hope through their shared love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

lexcellent's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, War, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, and Body horror

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Quiet, beautiful and completely intoxicating. I was terrified it was going to break my heart but I couldn't put it down. 

This book is filled with bleak and unflinching depictions of war (which are all based on historical accounts) that utterly broke me. But with it there is such beauty in the characters and the way they protect and love each other. It even manages to be funny, throwing in some gallows humour that only adds to its appeal.

An incredible love story that has enormous emotional power, and one that will stay with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Homophobia, and Death

rachel101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, and War

Minor: Classism, Grief, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Homophobia, Alcohol, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Bullying, and Death

basil_touche's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't remember the last time I had to pause during a book in order to comprehend what I had just read. This novel doesn't hide the gruesome aspects of the war, it's shows it all in detail and even I found it difficult to stomach at times. Characters are introduced and dead within a few pages; some you get to know for huge chunks of the book until suddenly there's a part where you see their obituary or their remains. A lot of topics are covered in this (chivalric mindsets of britain to war pre ww1, queer love, colonalisation, duel identities, classim etc) that it feels like it really captures the period.

But this is also a story about love. Gaunt and Ellwood's relationship throughout is touching as you see them pinning for them in their youth, to their optimism for the war being destroyed once they reach the trenches and then how they slowly start to pick up the pieces after. It's interesting to see how each of their traumas display differently, and surprising too.

I listened to the audiobook and Christian Coulson does a wonderful job throughout. He gives each character a distinct voice, along with pretty accurate accents. I think it truly adds something to the book. 

A haunting and beautiful debut for Winn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Bullying, Ableism, Alcoholism, Suicide, Alcohol, and Kidnapping

Minor: Classism, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Rape

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is one of the most moving love stories I've read in fiction. Winn's descriptions of yearning and forbidden longing are so tender and raw, and the weight of the characters' situations brought me to tears several times.

The passages describing the war are brutal, visceral, and full of horror, as are the psychological torments inflicted on the men by the inhumanity they are forced to endure. 

While the ending of the book is beautiful and hopeful, I really appreciated that the romantic impossibility of Ellwood and Gaunt's reunion didn't offer a panacea for their trauma. Instead, it realistically provided them both with a glimmer of hope that eventually, a normal life could be achieved.

My only (minor) critique of this book is that occasionally the 21st century sensibilities of anti-colonial sentiment felt a little too on the nose coming out of the mouths of British public school boys, but that really is a minor nitpick. 

Despite its heavy themes, this book was readable and engrossing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Gore