A review by pnwbibliophile
In Memoriam by Alice Winn

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In Memoriam follows two eighteen-year-old English schoolboys at the outbreak of World War 1. Henry Gaunt is pushed by the women around him and his family to join the war effort. Half German, he feels obligated to join so that others won’t think his family are German spies. Ellwood, Gaunt’s closest friend, enlists a few months thereafter. Before their enlistment, we get a glimpse at their “before” life. Pampered, sheltered, idyllic—the life of rowdy elite boarding school boys quoting literature and naively romanticizing the war and its heroism. As their boarding school begins to resemble a farm producing young men for war’s slaughter, that idyllic “before” starkly juxtaposes against the harsh realities of the war.

What plays out is an immersive novel with achingly real characters. Gaunt and Ellwood’s friendship was always more to each of them, though they each think it is an unrequited love. With the war stripping them both physically and mentally, they have to confront their feelings as they cling to each other for the little bit of light amidst the brutality of trench warfare. They’re repeatedly separated and the sense of dread at each not knowing if the other was still alive (as well as their other friends) was captured brilliantly. The novel is further layered with the stories of their fellow friends and civilians back home. You get a true sense of the societal and personal effects of the war as if England herself were a third main character.

And yet that description seems idiotically unrepresentative of what this novel is. It is about love, loss, the immorality of war and empire, and the intricacies of masculinity and male bonds both romantic and platonic. But it is the way in which the author adeptly uses the plot, characterization, voice, and artful prose that makes this novel stand out. Alice Winn is a literary genius. She left no crumbs. I sobbed multiple times, the first time just 3 pages in. Never would I have thought that a fictional student newspaper would repeatedly gut me. The realness of the novel is rooted in the author’s research into the time period. With the emotion of a passion piece and execution of timeless classic literature, this was my favorite read thus far in 2024. It’s one of those stories that sticks with you.
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