Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

52 reviews

nadijya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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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reflectiverambling_nalana's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A poignant and gritty historical fiction that does not shy away from the physical and emotional brutality of WWI. While marketed primarily on the lives of two friends turned lovers and the environment of the time for those attracted to the same gender, it should not be understated how much this book dedicates to friendships, bonds, as are and the assumptions of. While not as prominent it also addresses classism and has a beautiful not to how many gray areas existed 'behind enemy lines' in that even in the darkest places there were examples of compassion and a recognition of humanity no matter what language was spoken or what uniform was worn. 

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akbbailey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Slow in the start, but I gained interest in the characters as book progressed

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kiwialexa's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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mobooks's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.0


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msouth's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.5


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aloe_v's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

Reading time: 6 hours
Intense and compelling read

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arayo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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starglitters's review

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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

5.0


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writingcaia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Boys should be boys, boys that love boys, that hate boys, that dream of poetry and bravery, and that live in a world where epopees and the old generation glorifies war and giving life for God, King and Country.
What many dream of does come, a war, but little did they know it would be called the War to End all Wars. 
One by one, reaching adulthood and even before seeing 18 they depart to the front and butchery.
In a boys school two friends feel differently, but inevitably, one because he doesn’t want to be called a coward or a traitor (being of German descent and eighteen), and the other because he cannot conceive of his best friend, his loved one, dying without seeing him again, enlist. 
All the courage and bravado they felt while reading the In Memoriam with the list of the brave boys before them will soon die, along with thousands. It’s not glory they will face but a world of sickness and death, of loss and grief, of trauma and despair. A world they could not in their wildest dreams ever conceive.
Focused on our beautiful love bird boys on a relationship of miscommunication, this book still tells much of the tragedy of WWI especially among the younger boys, their disillusionment with God and Country, their loss of limbs, of face, of mind, of life. It also gives a peek at a world where boys full around with boys when it’s seen as a young boys “thing” but in war it’s a crime to love one another and act upon it.Another of the themes approached is the different ways in which aristocratic kids like these were treated and promoted compared to civil workers.
The love story drives the plot but it is so much more than that, and that depth of feeling, the poetry of love for country, than hate for it, the love for their friends and the grief for the lost ones.
This was one of my favourite books of 2023, and one I won’t forget!
Totally recommend for historical fiction fans, romantic historic fiction, WWI fiction fans, and lgbtqia+ romance fans.

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