Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

19 reviews

lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Child death, Suicide, War, Blood, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Classism, Colonisation, Miscarriage, and Antisemitism

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

skylar_cr_wolf's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? N/A

5.0

“In this war he’s a god, Ellwood.” He put his face into his hands. “You’ve brought the anger of gods upon us.”

First of all, I need to thank two people kindly for recommending this book to me: Kieran and Harvey. 
Thank you two for being part of this journey and being okay with me sharing my inner thoughts about this novel while I read and cried about it.

And now to the novel:

It is more than I can express. And I mean it. The entire topic of world wars is something which usually keeps me away from reading a novel, however, I am glad that it didn’t scare me away this time. Because while WWI is a major point in this book, it is not the central part. The main focus is on friendships and complicated romance, especially as a queer person in the 1910s to early 1920s. It is about how you change through being tormented by the ongoing war and how it changes also the connections you have to people. It is about the loss of them as well. 
Another point which I liked but also surprised me a bit is the accuracy of languages. At least for the German part I can say that it is incredibly accurate. It was astonishing to see a novel which is mostly written in English to depict a fair share of languages in such an accurate form. As someone who is a bit of a lingual nerd (not as big as I used to) find this extremely marvellous. 

I could say so much more. How much I love Gaunt and Ellwood. How much my heart still aches because of Sandys and how much I enjoyed the friendships between Gideon and Gaunt too. How much I will miss their journey and look forward to read it again at some other time. 
And maybe this time I will be better prepared with enough tissues for farewells.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Animal death, and War

Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Confinement, and Bullying

zara89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Blood, Violence, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Confinement, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Torture, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Death, Bullying, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Forced institutionalization

willow_thewisp's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, 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

lealula's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, War, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Colonisation, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide

novelshire's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Confinement and Antisemitism

laurennicole98's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Confinement, Alcoholism, Suicide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

kiwialexa's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, War, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Classism, and Suicide