Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - In Memoriam

you read a lotta mid books to get to books like this, and it feels all the worthwhile :')

literally 'the song of achilles' but set during world war i. it was so gruesome and sad but i couldn't look away. the yearning was palpable. to me, the ending felt a little rushed and anticlimactic after Going Through It (capital G) with these characters, but the rest of the book is so heavy i won't fault the author too much. it was still an incredible reading experience.

Content Warnings

hmatt's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Starting off 2025 strong with this incredibly powerful read. I won't say I "enjoyed" it as such, because... war novel... graphic, gore-y violence and PTSD, but if you are alright to read on these themes I strongly recommend.

The characters' perspectives and emotions are conveyed in that just-right balance where they are (probably?) historically accurate - some level of repressed, some level of entitled public school boy, etc. Even though the narrative focuses on two privileged men, I thought the author did an alright job of incorporating other diverse voices into the story. The incredible class privilege of the two MCs is definitely consistently acknowledged.

I could "leave" some of the quotations from ancient epics and old poets I haven't read, but I don't feel alienated by their inclusion. In the context of the MCs and their upbringings and personalities, they make sense.

Format note: I really enjoyed this audiobook. The production is exceptionally well thought-through and the narrator does the different character voices impeccably.

I feel that the author did an excellent job acknowledging the not-happy parts of the "happy" ending, e.g. all of Ellwood's friends died, they ended up "in exile" of a sort, PTSD doesn't just disappear, etc.

Content Warnings

mbesq's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

A beautifully written book about love, brutality, heartbreak, friendship, bravery.

Content Warnings

jkpotteryu's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

I cannot fathom how Alice Winn wrote this book as her debut novel. “In Memoriam” is brutal and blunt, yet also hopelessly intimate. It is less, I believe, a story about finding love, and more a story about existing love and how it changes and shifts under the influence of war and separation. The story does not wish to speak about WHY people love, but wishes to acknowledge the fact that people love and that fact will stay unchanging for the rest of time. We do not get REASONS for why Gaunt and Ellwood love each other as much as we are presented with the fact that they, simply, are in love.

I found the use of newspaper clippings and poetry masterful. It makes your heart clench when a person you’ve just read a graphic description of inhumane death of appears as simply a last name and initials on the weekly news.

The use of poetry, I felt, added a somewhat dream-like experience to the book while being interrupted by the brute horror of World War 1.

This book is not light. It is heavy, and dark, and horrific at times, and I would tread carefully recommending it to others, but I truly believe Alice Winn has written one of the greatest novels of the decade. It is honest, and brutal, and tragic, but ultimately it is hopeful.

Content Warnings

fermin's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

I wanted to give it some time to organize my thoughts before I rated this novel, but thing is, it's clinging to me, it's got awesome staying power. I think this book is a lot more than the sum of its parts, it's sadder, blunter, more tragic, more vicious than I was expecting. But it's also happier, warmer, more hopeful than I could've imagined. Alice does an amazing job weaving amazingly thorough research of historical facts with a queer love story that is neither tragic nor pure wish-fulfillment. I can only commend her, not only does she manage to find a way out of this thorny maze, but she does so gracefully, with beautifully written prose.

I'm not sure it's a spoiler to say there is a happy ending awaiting the reader, but if I try to find a reason why it's still rolling around in my head, making me sentimental at unexpected moments, I'd venture it is because while that's incredibly hopeful and nothing short of revolutionary, it's near impossible to come away from this book not realizing it was also incredibly painful and sad to earn it. Perhaps the most bittersweet book I've ever read? I wish I could be mad at Alice, you know, blame her of writing a misery porn novel in the vein of A little life and contributing to the ever growing pile of queer romances all implicitly sharing the lesson that true everlasting happiness is not for the queers. Yet I can't say that's what she did, she gave us a happy ending, one that she laboured immensely to inject with verisimilitude, I'm just wishing we could bask in that happiness a little longer, but then again, that's not the story the novel is about.

Content Warnings

ddaria's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

Feels so real that it's hard to read. Especially when realizing how many people have lived through it. But the writing and the characters are beautiful through and through. I wouldn't change a thing about the book, it reads like a classic from start to finish.

Content Warnings

More...