A review by joshuach
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 An unrelentingly depressing story about two men in love in the trenches of World War I: I mean it—Alice Winn does not let up in her prose, her descriptions, and the emotional convictions of both her main characters as they grapple with the inherent violence of men, the vomit-inducing realities of war, all while balancing their stark lives as two men loving one another despite the injunction of judgment, ridicule, and death. There were several sections where I had to stop and think: some good, some bad. Winn describes in gruesome yet brief detail catastrophic violence and gore, and in the same breath, Winn builds romance and lust. There were moments where I hated the characters and loved them; I kept seeing a gentleness between the lines, between horror and love. There were fleeting moments of bright, lush peace but insurmountable responsibility that this is a war book, this is a queer book, and, somehow, that alone was enough tragedy. 
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