Reviews tagging 'Grief'

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

89 reviews

nineadrianna's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Gore, Grief, and Medical trauma

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. 

---

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

---

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

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. 

---

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

valkinbabe's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It's only a 4 star simply because, while I really liked the book, and it's beautifully written, it's not something that will keep me up at night

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Genocide, and Gore

lillianreads's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Medical trauma, Gun violence, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide and Sexism

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”

---

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content

aromarrie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My dearest, darling Sidney, ….

it feels hopeless to be picky about this book to be honest; in all its vivid historical recounts of WW1 through the povs of a few privileged men who were cut off from civilian society, and always will be after the war, as well as the ones who had no privilege to speak of. 

it was raw, emotional, and graphic as hell, full of anger and grief, but also a weak longing that tore these characters apart in every page. it was written startingly well and as another reader friend mentioned in her review, it is a timeless story for all. 

sidney & henry’s povs were gripping and i felt a part of myself sink with every character who stood by them and then split away. the newspaper clippings added to the bleakness, ill say…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Grief, War, and Death

sophiemundy13's review

challenging dark emotional sad

5.0

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. So beautifully written, incredibly moving and poignant. Winn so harrowingly describes the horrors of the battlefield in such a way that you can’t help but think about such a waste of human life. Utterly drawn to the story and characters of Ellwood and Gaunt, who are just remarkably written. Haven’t loved a book like this in a long time 

---

Content Warnings

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