A review by potterpav
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

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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