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A review by shivani_n
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
"it was the hell you'd feared in childhood, come to devour the children. it was treading over the corpses of your friends so that you might be killed yourself. it was the congealed evil of a century.
"ellwood smiled, and a sudden, dry bleakness spread over gaunt’s heart as he thought of hercules, and hector, and all the heroes in myth who found happiness briefly, only for it not to be the end of the story."
"he thought perhaps all the pain would sour the love, but instead it drew him further in, as if he were marc antony, falling on his own sword. and it was a magical thing, to love someone so much; it was a feeling so strange and slippery, like a sheath of fabric cut from the sky.”
_________
my god this book ripped me up and i loved it. it was definitely not easy to read because i wanted to cry every other page, but i don't regret it because it was so moving. it follows a tender love story between two soldiers, juxtaposed with the horrific backdrop of WWI. there is so much about this book i could talk about; there's so many facets to its beauty.
first of all, i loved how there were so many characters that made such a significant impact on gaunt and ellwood, even if they were only present for a short period of time, like gideon devi and hayes and sandys, and so many other countless characters that died tragically but were always remembered, even if they only barely knew the man. it emphasized that even through its brutality, war itself brought people closer and that so many meaningful relationships were formed in the process. alice winn does a really good job of showing love in all its forms, not just romantic love.
additionally, the heartbreaking transition from the idyllic landscape of their boarding school in the england countryside to the awful, gory, harrowing setting of the war battlefield was what made the storyline so much more interesting because you get to see how the war drastically changed gaunt and ellwood, and how even though they are so young, it feels like they have lived a thousand lives already. at the beginning of the novel, ellwood is a dreamy poet, often describes england as "magic", and quite a witty, playful boy. gaunt, on the other hand, is very reserved, quiet, anxious, pessimistic, and sometimes even violent. however, when they enlist and experience the tragedies of war firsthand, they change so much and it is SO SAD to see their characters become so utterly hopeless and destroyed by the world around them (especially ellwood for me). i also loved the inclusion of poetry in the book, it added such a unique aspect to it, and how ellwood's love for poetry evolved throughout the novel and how his experiences and feelings were often recounted through poetry.
also, the dynamic between gaunt and ellwood is so confusing and intriguing for the whole duration of the novel, i've never really read anything like it. they go through such a range of emotions, and they take you along with them. grief, anger, rage, acceptance, hatred, love, infatuation, hopelessness, triumph, sorrow, defeat, relief, joy. and i felt all of those things too, while i was reading. i always think it's so powerful when a book can bring out those feelings in me; i was so completely immersed in the story and its characters. there are times where i was so MAD at gaunt or ellwood for doing or saying something, but there were also so many sweet moments that made me love them and want them to be together. they weren't perfect, not in the slightest. at times they were even quite cruel to each other, but i feel that it's a very realistic portrayal of human emotion, especially in such dire circumstances. it's about how we say things we don't mean, how it is so hard to tell people how you feel, to accept that they have changed, to be so angry at the world that you don't have any capacity for kindness and you just want to hate everything, to feel inexplicable with joy when you're with your person, to be touched by them when they know just how you want to be touched, to be loved, truly, wholly, and without reservation.
the ending does give you some sort of closure, and is much happier than i was expecting it to be, but it still kind of left me with that empty, melancholic feeling. although the romantic in me would have wanted a more happily ever after, i think the ending alice winn chose was very appropriate and impactful.
this was a very long review so if you read all of it, i love you!!! in summary, this book was a deeply emotional story about love, death, and war. i was so invested in the characters and their journey, and the prose was just gorgeous. made me feel so much. would recommend if you want to cry.
"ellwood smiled, and a sudden, dry bleakness spread over gaunt’s heart as he thought of hercules, and hector, and all the heroes in myth who found happiness briefly, only for it not to be the end of the story."
"he thought perhaps all the pain would sour the love, but instead it drew him further in, as if he were marc antony, falling on his own sword. and it was a magical thing, to love someone so much; it was a feeling so strange and slippery, like a sheath of fabric cut from the sky.”
_________
my god this book ripped me up and i loved it. it was definitely not easy to read because i wanted to cry every other page, but i don't regret it because it was so moving. it follows a tender love story between two soldiers, juxtaposed with the horrific backdrop of WWI. there is so much about this book i could talk about; there's so many facets to its beauty.
first of all, i loved how there were so many characters that made such a significant impact on gaunt and ellwood, even if they were only present for a short period of time, like gideon devi and hayes and sandys, and so many other countless characters that died tragically but were always remembered, even if they only barely knew the man. it emphasized that even through its brutality, war itself brought people closer and that so many meaningful relationships were formed in the process. alice winn does a really good job of showing love in all its forms, not just romantic love.
additionally, the heartbreaking transition from the idyllic landscape of their boarding school in the england countryside to the awful, gory, harrowing setting of the war battlefield was what made the storyline so much more interesting because you get to see how the war drastically changed gaunt and ellwood, and how even though they are so young, it feels like they have lived a thousand lives already. at the beginning of the novel, ellwood is a dreamy poet, often describes england as "magic", and quite a witty, playful boy. gaunt, on the other hand, is very reserved, quiet, anxious, pessimistic, and sometimes even violent. however, when they enlist and experience the tragedies of war firsthand, they change so much and it is SO SAD to see their characters become so utterly hopeless and destroyed by the world around them (especially ellwood for me). i also loved the inclusion of poetry in the book, it added such a unique aspect to it, and how ellwood's love for poetry evolved throughout the novel and how his experiences and feelings were often recounted through poetry.
also, the dynamic between gaunt and ellwood is so confusing and intriguing for the whole duration of the novel, i've never really read anything like it. they go through such a range of emotions, and they take you along with them. grief, anger, rage, acceptance, hatred, love, infatuation, hopelessness, triumph, sorrow, defeat, relief, joy. and i felt all of those things too, while i was reading. i always think it's so powerful when a book can bring out those feelings in me; i was so completely immersed in the story and its characters. there are times where i was so MAD at gaunt or ellwood for doing or saying something, but there were also so many sweet moments that made me love them and want them to be together. they weren't perfect, not in the slightest. at times they were even quite cruel to each other, but i feel that it's a very realistic portrayal of human emotion, especially in such dire circumstances. it's about how we say things we don't mean, how it is so hard to tell people how you feel, to accept that they have changed, to be so angry at the world that you don't have any capacity for kindness and you just want to hate everything, to feel inexplicable with joy when you're with your person, to be touched by them when they know just how you want to be touched, to be loved, truly, wholly, and without reservation.
the ending does give you some sort of closure, and is much happier than i was expecting it to be, but it still kind of left me with that empty, melancholic feeling. although the romantic in me would have wanted a more happily ever after, i think the ending alice winn chose was very appropriate and impactful.
this was a very long review so if you read all of it, i love you!!! in summary, this book was a deeply emotional story about love, death, and war. i was so invested in the characters and their journey, and the prose was just gorgeous. made me feel so much. would recommend if you want to cry.