Reviews tagging 'Classism'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

40 reviews

brynpemery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This was beautiful. Can’t believe it’s a debut, but I will be looking forward to what the author does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Blood, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Classism, and Homophobia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Child death, Suicide, War, Blood, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Classism, Colonisation, Miscarriage, and Antisemitism

botanicpanic's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism and Classism

gemin1reader's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

I feel like this book ripped my heart in two. It’s a really unflinching look at the brutalities of war entwined with a love story of two boys. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking, made me cry and will be living in my head for a long time, I think. Although it’s fiction, it really brings the reality of WW1 to life in a very haunting way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Gun violence, War, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence

lizziaha's review against another edition

• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Ableism, Racism, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Confinement, Homophobia, Bullying, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

introverted_reads's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gun violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

paulawind's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

To be perfectly honest, I expected more of a

kill your gays type of a situation

, especially considering time period,

but I’m so happy I was wrong! The more I think about it, it was the happiest ending that would be realistic in this situation.

We’ll always have Brazil, fuck the Old World. 
This book was harrowing. I thought I was ready for the horrors of war after reading All Quiet on the Western Front, but this book only awoke my memories. Why do leaders decide to go to war when it is universally acknowledged that it is only bringing pain and suffering? And we do it all over again, for millennia. Maybe the Greeks got it more, when the war was more about man vs man rather than automated machines against civilians. 
Coming to characters, side from them dropping like flies every other chapter, I think the author made us care about every (or almost every) death. The character development for both MCs was absolutely breaking my heart but

I’m so glad they found each other back in the end and are learning to love each other again

An almost complete emotional flip Gaunt and Ellwood did throughout the book hit me like a whiplash, but it was done in a way that it made sense. After all

Gaunt’s prisoners of war camp chapters were the most peaceful and cheerful of the entire book, whereas Elwood was facing bloodbath every day, seeing an orchestrated massacre on a daily basis

One of my favourite moments is when Elwood is screaming poetry at Gaunt, very blatantly professing his love in all meaning but the straightforward one, and Gaunt is so deep in denial that even thought he loved him desperately too, he can’t believe it’s really happening. Those characters in a nutshell. At least for the first part of the book. Later it would be Gaunt being gentle and endlessly patient with Elwood when he struggles to say anything at all and bursting in anger, fighting his ptsd. Gosh, I love those boys so much. Going to pretend that the book ended with “And they lived happily ever after”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Colonisation, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Rape, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, War, Vomit, Sexual content, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Racism

luca_18's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Classism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content

pnwbibliophile's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Gore, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Homophobia, Classism, and Xenophobia

willow_thewisp's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide