A review by jkpotteryu
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

5.0

I cannot fathom how Alice Winn wrote this book as her debut novel. “In Memoriam” is brutal and blunt, yet also hopelessly intimate. It is less, I believe, a story about finding love, and more a story about existing love and how it changes and shifts under the influence of war and separation. The story does not wish to speak about WHY people love, but wishes to acknowledge the fact that people love and that fact will stay unchanging for the rest of time. We do not get REASONS for why Gaunt and Ellwood love each other as much as we are presented with the fact that they, simply, are in love.

I found the use of newspaper clippings and poetry masterful. It makes your heart clench when a person you’ve just read a graphic description of inhumane death of appears as simply a last name and initials on the weekly news. 

The use of poetry, I felt, added a somewhat dream-like experience to the book while being interrupted by the brute horror of World War 1. 

This book is not light. It is heavy, and dark, and horrific at times, and I would tread carefully recommending it to others, but I truly believe Alice Winn has written one of the greatest novels of the decade. It is honest, and brutal, and tragic, but ultimately it is hopeful. 

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