A review by catalinamunoz
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I wish I could erase this book from my memory and read it again for the first time. 

The story begins with two English college students, Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt (who is half-German), during 1914 as the war starts. Day after day, they read the college newspaper to find the casualties of students who died at the front during World War I. 

At one point, Gaunt’s family asks him to enlist to avoid the anti-German sentiment they face, and soon Elwood follows him to the front. 

From there, the story unfolds both a beautiful romance and a heart-wrenching war narrative. The execution is flawless, and I felt I was with the characters–in the school and the trenches. 

Moments of hope, love, and joy shine through, but the reality of war and its consequences for those men always resurfaces. I couldn’t put my Kindle down and felt like the characters were real people in my life. 

“The Hague Convention sought to make war more humane. We had reached a point in history where we believed it was possible to make war humane.”

The author carefully integrates issues of race, class, and sexual orientation into the narrative rather than directly confronting readers with them.

Since reading this book in May, I’ve been looking for a story as perfectly layered as this one. It was an easy choice for my favorite book of 2024.