Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

100 reviews

ambersoda's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

gentlemanjack's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War

bootrat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I usually avoid reading books about war, but I'll try anything if it's queer so I gave this a go and I'm glad I did. Heartbreaking and emotional but definitely worth reading. But obviously it's set during a war, so expect lots of gore, violence, mental illness (PTSD, or shell shock) and death amongst the poingnancy.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Antisemitism

Minor: Sexual content and Xenophobia

tea_and_reading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, and War

Minor: Suicide, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

isabelcostamurray's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

anj's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Confinement and Death of parent

my_weird_bookish_heart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cwg's review against another edition

Brilliant book which really made me feel…everything, I guess. 

WW1-era Britain, private school facing mid-war. Bunch of British school boys sign up and go through hell.

Pleasant prose. Loved reading it. Rendition of war was poignant, not so much focus on the technicalities but the experiences themselves.

Result is that I appreciated the rendered characters. How they quickly come in and out of the narrative can be overwhelming at times, (hard to keep up with names) but it’s fitting in the nature of a war-era narrative. I think it was done well, overall. Even the ones who only get a bit of spotlight I could feel for. There’s a lot of mini-narratives you get to witness from beginning to end, each tale providing another perspective to the war. I felt a great sense of authenticity from it all.

And of course the main characters were great. I wasn’t quite sold on them at first, but quickly turned around as the novel went on. While I felt they didn't feel like real people, they, themselves, felt real---how they moved in this story's changing world reflecting something so...human. 

I ended up feeling a lot for these characters. They were wonderful. 

I may come back to this novel someday. It was lovely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Classism

milliefitz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

megelizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

"Gaunt wished the War had been what Ellwood wanted it to be. He wished they could have ridden across a battlefield on horseback, brandishing a sword alongside their gallant king."

This was SO good. It was a bleak, painful read much of the time, but also filled with so much love and so many beautiful friendships and relationships. It paints a brilliantly vivid picture of life at war and also does such a good job of doing what is often omitted in war-based fiction - exploring the long-lasting mental effects of experiencing war. 

This is a story that's devastating but also just hopeful enough to completely capture your heart. The ending is so clever, bittersweet, and not at all what I was expecting. I just loved this (and both Gaunt and Ellwood <3) so, so much, and I cannot wait to see what else Alice Winn writes in the future.

I think the main reason this wasn't quite a 5* read for me is that I didn't connect with the characters quite as much as I might have done if the cast wasn't so predominantly made up of private-school boys. That's not a criticism of the book as those are simply the experiences it explores, and it does touch on their privileges within the setting of a war frontline - it just meant that, whilst I loved this and loved many of the characters, I wasn't quite as connected as I have been with absolute top-tier books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Racism, and Antisemitism

Minor: Death of parent