Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

157 reviews

pnwbibliophile's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

In Memoriam follows two eighteen-year-old English schoolboys at the outbreak of World War 1. Henry Gaunt is pushed by the women around him and his family to join the war effort. Half German, he feels obligated to join so that others won’t think his family are German spies. Ellwood, Gaunt’s closest friend, enlists a few months thereafter. Before their enlistment, we get a glimpse at their “before” life. Pampered, sheltered, idyllic—the life of rowdy elite boarding school boys quoting literature and naively romanticizing the war and its heroism. As their boarding school begins to resemble a farm producing young men for war’s slaughter, that idyllic “before” starkly juxtaposes against the harsh realities of the war.

What plays out is an immersive novel with achingly real characters. Gaunt and Ellwood’s friendship was always more to each of them, though they each think it is an unrequited love. With the war stripping them both physically and mentally, they have to confront their feelings as they cling to each other for the little bit of light amidst the brutality of trench warfare. They’re repeatedly separated and the sense of dread at each not knowing if the other was still alive (as well as their other friends) was captured brilliantly. The novel is further layered with the stories of their fellow friends and civilians back home. You get a true sense of the societal and personal effects of the war as if England herself were a third main character.

And yet that description seems idiotically unrepresentative of what this novel is. It is about love, loss, the immorality of war and empire, and the intricacies of masculinity and male bonds both romantic and platonic. But it is the way in which the author adeptly uses the plot, characterization, voice, and artful prose that makes this novel stand out. Alice Winn is a literary genius. She left no crumbs. I sobbed multiple times, the first time just 3 pages in. Never would I have thought that a fictional student newspaper would repeatedly gut me. The realness of the novel is rooted in the author’s research into the time period. With the emotion of a passion piece and execution of timeless classic literature, this was my favorite read thus far in 2024. It’s one of those stories that sticks with you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Xenophobia, and Classism

zara89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

catpolhamus's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

elisacarlene's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, and Alcohol

willow_thewisp's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lottykarottie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

oz2021's review

dark emotional informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, and Outing

alenert's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? Yes

🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

sandysmith's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt are elite public school boys, set at the start of the beginning of WW1, Gaunt signs up, and Ellwood follows him a while after finding Gaunt jaded and changed. The story is wonderfully written, gore, and the horror of war interspersed with the forbidden love of the 2 main characters, initially unrequited. The supporting characters are wonderful, but few survive. I  loved the school paper and updates throughout the novel. I learnt a lot. Classism and the illegality of homosexuality, which to me was just a beautiful love story that happened to be between 2 men with a shared history. Poignant, devastating,  tragedy of war, shell shock and medical restrictions, the reality of the trenches its moving, brutal, but the tragedy is superby handled.  It's a humdinger of a debut novel. Fantastic but heart wrenching.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, and Antisemitism

cyrus_'s review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and War