A review by butterbrioche
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes
I almost feel to raw to be writing this right now but I have to in order to get it all out. I’m not someone who reads books that take place during any war but I saw someone talking about this and so I dived in, without preparing my heart. Winn simultaneously writes this story with such tenderness and intensity. Perhaps a tender intensity. She doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war, no matter how graphic. She also has these characters grapple what it means for a war to be honorable and noble, to fight for “king and country”.  

I think that this story will haunt me for a long time. I feel so raw and exposed. I feel, I feel, I feel. What a story. I even cried halfway through and I haven’t cried while reading in a really long time. Watching the changes in Gaunt and Ellwood was devastating, watching them almost become shadows of their former selves but this is the cost of war. This is the cost of everything.

In the end, I hope Sidney and Heinrich could live out the rest of the days holding each others hearts in their hands and knowing that those hands are safe. Those hands are home. 
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