Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

69 reviews

paulawind's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

To be perfectly honest, I expected more of a

kill your gays type of a situation

, especially considering time period,

but I’m so happy I was wrong! The more I think about it, it was the happiest ending that would be realistic in this situation.

We’ll always have Brazil, fuck the Old World. 
This book was harrowing. I thought I was ready for the horrors of war after reading All Quiet on the Western Front, but this book only awoke my memories. Why do leaders decide to go to war when it is universally acknowledged that it is only bringing pain and suffering? And we do it all over again, for millennia. Maybe the Greeks got it more, when the war was more about man vs man rather than automated machines against civilians. 
Coming to characters, side from them dropping like flies every other chapter, I think the author made us care about every (or almost every) death. The character development for both MCs was absolutely breaking my heart but

I’m so glad they found each other back in the end and are learning to love each other again

An almost complete emotional flip Gaunt and Ellwood did throughout the book hit me like a whiplash, but it was done in a way that it made sense. After all

Gaunt’s prisoners of war camp chapters were the most peaceful and cheerful of the entire book, whereas Elwood was facing bloodbath every day, seeing an orchestrated massacre on a daily basis

One of my favourite moments is when Elwood is screaming poetry at Gaunt, very blatantly professing his love in all meaning but the straightforward one, and Gaunt is so deep in denial that even thought he loved him desperately too, he can’t believe it’s really happening. Those characters in a nutshell. At least for the first part of the book. Later it would be Gaunt being gentle and endlessly patient with Elwood when he struggles to say anything at all and bursting in anger, fighting his ptsd. Gosh, I love those boys so much. Going to pretend that the book ended with “And they lived happily ever after”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Colonisation, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Rape, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, War, Vomit, Sexual content, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Racism

chooranoora's review against another edition

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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Blood

Minor: Antisemitism

remib's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, War, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism

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, War, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

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

itisnatal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, Gore, Grief, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

thesecretbookclub's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, and Death

Minor: Blood, Mental illness, Suicide, Bullying, and Antisemitism

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

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: War, Violence, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Bullying, and Antisemitism

dendodge's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, War, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Antisemitism and Suicide

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad 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

2.25

I wanted to like this so much more, probably because there’s a paucity of stories like this one. Unfortunately, I really find most war stories both too depressing and boring, as was the case here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Gore, War, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Outing, and Grief