Reviews tagging 'Violence'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

172 reviews

gemin1reader's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

I feel like this book ripped my heart in two. It’s a really unflinching look at the brutalities of war entwined with a love story of two boys. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking, made me cry and will be living in my head for a long time, I think. Although it’s fiction, it really brings the reality of WW1 to life in a very haunting way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Gun violence, War, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I was trying to decide, while I was reading this book, what makes boarding school stories feel so idyllic. I suppose it is the most wonderful version of life: surrounded by friends, intellectual conversations, secrets, sports, homoerotic tension. It’s not all good of course, but every time Elwood quotes a poem, I long for such an existence. But this isn’t a boarding school book exactly. It’s a war book. And it gets gory; the horrors of war are all too present in this book. But more than that, woven into every word of this book is love. There are different kinds: romantic, platonic, familial, love of life, love of country, love of poetry, but everywhere you look, there is love. And there is something captivating about love that persists against all odds. I think that is why I enjoyed the semi-epistolary nature of this book so much. It shows how these characters attempt to bundle that love up and put it into words as much as they can. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Ableism, Racism, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Confinement, Homophobia, Bullying, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

estellegodard's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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? Yes

4.75

I loved loved loved this book! it was a poignant and devastating depiction of war while also being a beautiful story of love and friendship. I really enjoyed the different forms through which the story was told. I found that there was so much humanity behind each of the characters and even though we didn’t spend long with many of them, I was still touched by the way the author wrote about them and their deaths. the parts I enjoyed less were in the prisoner camp, though I was still invested and appreciated the arrival of new characters. all in all, this is a book that is both beautifully written and incredibly bingeable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

dubious_little_creature'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, War, and Violence

bibliogouine's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

I would never normally go for WW1 stories but this is just the most brilliant lovely book. Harrowing and traumatic certainly but the characters are wonderful and I didn't want it to end. Gaunt and Ellwood felt like close friends by the end. Sobbed more than once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

paulawind's review against another edition

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

anna_kp'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Homophobia

luca_18's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content

potterpav's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

rating this book 3.5 stars makes me feel so undeniably let down. this was on track to be my favourite book of the year until i actually started reading it, and then the stars fell less and less as it continued. don’t get me wrong, the descriptions and violence is done so masterfully alice winn needs to be given several awards for how sick it made me, she rlly achieved what she set out to do with the displays of the horrors, but as for ellwood and gaunt… their story did not play out how i expected nor wanted from how the blurb describes it. i think the problem was i didn’t like ellwood. even before the war, i didn’t like him and the whole book i just spent feeling sorry for gaunt for liking someone who’s so hot-and-cold. obviously ellwood’s behaviour after fighting is different and can be explained differently, but i feel like as a reader i’m still allowed to dislike a character despite the trauma they’ve experienced. and i also didn’t really like the choice of ending, but i think that’s just a me thing. anyway, yeah i feel so disappointed but if you like (fictional) first world war novels, i would recommend this highly! but if youre into the romance aspect, i would come into this with caution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, and War