Reviews with content warning for Ableism - In memoriam

I can't remember the last time I had to pause during a book in order to comprehend what I had just read. This novel doesn't hide the gruesome aspects of the war, it's shows it all in detail and even I found it difficult to stomach at times. Characters are introduced and dead within a few pages; some you get to know for huge chunks of the book until suddenly there's a part where you see their obituary or their remains. A lot of topics are covered in this (chivalric mindsets of britain to war pre ww1, queer love, colonalisation, duel identities, classim etc) that it feels like it really captures the period.

But this is also a story about love. Gaunt and Ellwood's relationship throughout is touching as you see them pinning for each other in their youth, to their optimism for the war being destroyed once they reach the trenches and then how they slowly start to pick up the pieces after. It's interesting to see how each of their traumas display differently, and surprising too.

I listened to the audiobook and Christian Coulson does a wonderful job throughout. He gives each character a distinct voice, along with pretty accurate accents. I think it truly adds something to the book.

A haunting and beautiful debut for Winn.

Content Warnings

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is one of the most moving love stories I've read in fiction. Winn's descriptions of yearning and forbidden longing are so tender and raw, and the weight of the characters' situations brought me to tears several times.

The passages describing the war are brutal, visceral, and full of horror, as are the psychological torments inflicted on the men by the inhumanity they are forced to endure.

While the ending of the book is beautiful and hopeful, I really appreciated that the romantic impossibility of Ellwood and Gaunt's reunion didn't offer a panacea for their trauma. Instead, it realistically provided them both with a glimmer of hope that eventually, a normal life could be achieved.

My only (minor) critique of this book is that occasionally the 21st century sensibilities of anti-colonial sentiment felt a little too on the nose coming out of the mouths of British public school boys, but that really is a minor nitpick.

Despite its heavy themes, this book was readable and engrossing.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I was trying to decide, while I was reading this book, what makes boarding school stories feel so idyllic. I suppose it is the most wonderful version of life: surrounded by friends, intellectual conversations, secrets, sports, homoerotic tension. It’s not all good of course, but every time Elwood quotes a poem, I long for such an existence. But this isn’t a boarding school book exactly. It’s a war book. And it gets gory; the horrors of war are all too present in this book. But more than that, woven into every word of this book is love. There are different kinds: romantic, platonic, familial, love of life, love of country, love of poetry, but everywhere you look, there is love. And there is something captivating about love that persists against all odds. I think that is why I enjoyed the semi-epistolary nature of this book so much. It shows how these characters attempt to bundle that love up and put it into words as much as they can.

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bookishthots's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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luckyseven's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. Just a great book. I can’t believe this is the author’s debut novel!! It was so gut and heart wrenching, I finished it in 3 hours. The drive of the characters keeps you hooked. They can be lovable and silly, crude and cruel, they are only human after all. I highly recommend this for anyone that loves a “realistic” historical fiction book that challenges love.

Content Warnings

tesslw's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

TW; graphic depictions of war, ableism, homophobia, injury

I can say, in confidence, that this will be one of my favourite books of the year. It’s very rare that I find characters so raw, nuanced, and whom I feel so quickly and deeply invested in as I did with Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood in this novel (even typing ‘Sidney’ almost makes me feel teary; and if you know, you know!)

In Memoriam begins in 1914, during the precipice and subsequent arrival of World War 1; beginning with two best friends at boarding school, both hiding their deep rooted love for the other, believing it to be unrequited and fearing the societal dangers as well as potential damage to friendship of admitting such feelings. At the tender age of 18, Gaunt also has to battle with his dual heritage; being half German when the two parts of him become mortal enemies is a tough thing to reconcile. But ultimately, his destiny is at the front; and wherever Gaunt goes, Ellwood will follow - age restrictions be damned. Despite separations across time, space, a whole continent and a literal no man’s land, the two can’t help but try and find each other.

The beauty of this book is beyond anything I was expecting - each character is so nuanced, so fully formed and so deeply human. There is cruelty, there is love and there is fear beyond anything that I hope I will ever know. It also really served to remind me of the horrors of war, and the unfathomable truth of how young so many of the men who were died were, in the name of ‘their country’. The way that violence and tenderness are so deeply overlayed is nothing short of masterful. There are some bonds that truly can’t be broken.

Thank you so so much to @Viking Books for gifting me an advance copy of this - I loved it from start to finish and I can’t wait to get my hands on a finished copy now that it is published and out in the world. I can’t encourage you to do the same enough.

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