Reviews with content warning for Violence - In memoriam

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

In memoriam by Alice Winn

215 reviews

bootrat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I usually avoid reading books about war, but I'll try anything if it's queer so I gave this a go and I'm glad I did. Heartbreaking and emotional but definitely worth reading. But obviously it's set during a war, so expect lots of gore, violence, mental illness (PTSD, or shell shock) and death amongst the poingnancy.

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bellsdixon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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mel_e_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Tugs on your heartstrings and hits all the right notes. I rarely, if ever, read books about actual wars. I am so glad I picked this book up, because I couldn’t put it down. A great read, I’ll come back to this one day. It will stick with me for a long, long time.

Maud’s work on legalizing homosexuality was NOT on my radar but wow, almost had me crying in the airport.

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jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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razialise's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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zephyxs's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

„Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.“

I have not read a book more perfectly cruel describing the joys and hopes of war right before ending it all in a silent yet painful way.

I have to be honest, I went into this book briefly knowing, this will be about two school boys (when i picked it up i actually didn’t even knew that it was two boys) who happened to live in the heights of the first world war and decided to fight at the front for their country. That it was so much more than that- well i soon came to realize that!

It starts off perfectly sweet, with making you familiar with the funny-centered, hope-induced characters that can’t wait to finally be able to fight for their country.

That it starts off in said schoolboy setting is actually something, that not only surprised me but I was actually very fond of. You get to know the characters, let them grow onto you, find out who they love, what jokes they make.

Only to experience this personality change even more, the moment they start fighting.

I haven’t read many books set in war, but something i always enjoyed was realistic portrayal. Letting the characters actually change under those cruel realities and traumatizing experiences. How they grew dull and emotionless, instead of angry and loud. Letting them loose their joy. Making them cope with dark jokes and leading them down a mental spiral induced by their own humanly fears, the horrors they have to see and the dead comrades they have to leave behind. Exactly this is, what - in my opinion - this book did. It made them change. It changed you while you read it.

The poem I wrote at the top is a poem frequently mentioned throughout the book. And dare I say it is used in a particular smart way, making its first appearance already before the protagonists enlist. It sets the mood for a hopeful, pride filled almost naive point of view, just to be honest, realistic and relatable for them at the end. I also very enjoyed the little newspaper entries. It pulls you more into the story. I happened to catch myself several times, the moment a newspaper appeared, to be searching it for familiar names, as if I was in that situation, searching for the names of my friends and relatives.

But my heart not only dropped the moment i read those names. The plottwists that were built into the story actually had me gasping and looking shocked at the book. Obviously, as someone that is not very good in detecting plottwists, if they aren’t the most obvious plotlines, i am rather privileged here and some of you may already have had suspicions, but I myself had none. So the emotions were even stronger.

Lastly, I want to end this review with a scene in the book, that followed me days after I read it and still makes my skin crawl. I will put it into spoilers, but it isn’t a plot spoiler. If you want to read it, you could, it’ll simply show you what I meant with the portrayal of the horror war put soldiers in.

A rotting hand had popped out of the trench wall that morning, and Ellwood watched as a private stopped and shook it. „Good afternoon,“ said the man in an exaggerated posh accent. He didn’t seem to know anyone was watching him. „Very fine weather we’ve been having.“

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isabelcostamurray's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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anj's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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

När första världskriget bryter ut är många av pojkarna på internatskolan Preshute College ivriga att få ta värvning. Inte Henry Gaunt, som är emot kriget. Men när hans tyska mor ber honom göra det för att skydda familjen från spionmisstankar så anser han sig inte ha mycket till val. Nu slipper han åtminstone kämpa mot sina förbjudna känslor för sin bäste vän, Sidney Ellwood. Men det dröjer inte länge innan hans skolkamrater följer efter honom till skyttegravarna - även Ellwood.

Den här debutromanen hamnar definitivt på min lista över årets bästa böcker! Jag har läst många böcker om andra världskriget, som då oftast handlat om koncentrationslägren, men få böcker om första världskriget. Här tas vi med ned i skyttegravarna och får veta exakt hur eländigt och skrämmande det var. Den romantiska bilden många unga män hade om att ta värvning förändrades väldigt snabbt när de väl var på plats. Det är fullt begripligt att de som var med vid fronten förändrades som människor, konstigt vore det annars. Det är många gånger hjärtskärande läsning, men här finns också en hel del hopp. Kamratskapen bland soldaterna får stor betydelse och skildras på ett briljant sätt av Winn.

Det finns likheter med "Den hemliga historien" och "Döda poeters sällskap" och gillar man stämningen i de böckerna så är jag rätt säker på att man kommer att tycka om "In memoriam". Trots det till synes tunga ämnet så är boken lättläst och faktiskt svår att lägga ifrån sig. Texten "lättas upp" av dikter (Ellwood är poet), brev och tidningsurklipp med listor på döda och sårade. Relationen mellan Gaunt och Ellwood är fascinerande att följa, särskilt som homosexualitet var olagligt på den tiden. Ändå var det inte ovanligt att pojkar "fördrev tiden" med varandra och det var på något vis acceptabelt. Så länge man inte blev påkommen...

Det är oftast svårare att sätta ord på varför man älskar en bok, för hur man än försöker så hittar man sällan rätt resonemang. När jag läser igenom det jag skrivit så vet jag inte om jag kommer att övertyga någon om att det här är en bok som inte får missas. Jag får helt enkelt hoppas att många ändå väljer att plocka upp den!

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annabella's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read this book fast not because it was incredible but the writing is easy to flick through. I thought I’d be more emotional at it but no tears were shed! It definitely shows the horrors of the war in both a physical and mental trauma sense, and I thought it sadness about how it permanently changed Ellwood‘s sense of loving Gaunt. When

Gaunt apparently died and Ellwood was moping

I thought it was a bit slow and didn’t know how else it could progress. The book feels not so much a love story but an account of how messed up the war efforts were and showing the intimate human relationships amongst a horrific situation. But from booktok etc it feels more advertised as a tragic mlm novel so that’s what I expected more.

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