In Memoriam: A Novel by Alice Winn covers many serious and potentially triggering subjects such as grief, PTSD, war, homophobia, severe bodily injury, and death. Remember to check the warnings. 

It is not hard to find a good book, or even a great one, but it is rare to discover a book as special as In Memoriam by Alice Winn. I went into this book blind; I had heard it was good and really liked the cover, so I went ahead and picked it up, though I don’t believe anything could’ve prepared me for what was inside of its pages. This book was marketed to me as a tragic romance, even the cover calls it a ‘love story’, but I believe that is a disservice to what it really is. This book is a war novel, one of the best I have ever read. 

“It seems unfair, doesn’t it? Our parents got to live their whole lives without anything like this.”

 “Busily building up the world that led to this.” 

Synopsis  

In Memoriam follows two teenagers from boarding school to the trenches and then in the aftermath during WWI. Both boys are in love with each other and yet fear the other finding out, circling each other as just friends but wanting more. As WWI begins to ramp up, both are too young to enlist but still face the pressures of the times to help their country. Though after a close call between the two, one takes the initiative and enlists, lying about his age, and joins the front lines as an officer. From there we watch their lives unravel over time, apart and together. 

A Tragic Love Story or War Fiction? 

The short answer is that it is both but advertising it as a romance is misleading in my opinion. This is not an average ‘tragic romance’ in the sense that two characters face varying levels of hardship to finally get together. These two characters do love each other, there are romance elements, but it will not give you the satisfaction that romances seek to give you in the end because of the war fiction element. It is very intriguing the way that this book displays two genres that are at constant odds with one another, one wants that satisfying ending that the other is not capable of providing, creating a war onto itself. This was a conscious decision by the author I believe, as she uses this friction of the two genres to enrich her narrative in a beautiful way. Your heart wants that happy ending so desperately, but your brain knows better given the circumstances.  

“Ellwood smiled, and a sudden, dry bleakness spread over Gaunt’s heart as he thought of Hercules, and Hector, and all the heroes in myth who found happiness briefly, only for it not to be the end of the story.” 

Though in my opinion, the war fiction genre heavily dominates this novel. I think it is important to make this statement so that people don’t lose out on enjoying this novel because they went in with different expectations. A large part of this novel has our main characters separated and focused on the horrors of their environment rather than their romantic interests. It does a beautiful job showing us a side of trench warfare in the in-between moments, how the soldiers deal with their grief, injuries, and the societal expectations weighing on their shoulders. I have read many war novels in my day, non-fiction and fiction, but none have really made me as emotional as this one. The name In Memoriam comes from the section in the paper listing the dead and injured to those back home, and we get to see these sections throughout the novel. It is nerve-wracking as the reader to look through the list that seems to grow longer and longer, hoping to not find the names of characters you learned to love. Then you begin to wonder how it must have felt for those with actual loved ones fighting in the war, those who actually had something to lose. This is just one example of how this novel utilizes aspects outside of actual combat to make its commentary on WWI and war in general. 

“It was the Hell you’d feared in childhood, come to devour the children, it was treading over the corpses of your friends so that you might be killed yourself. It was the congealed evil of a century.” 

Final Thoughts  

This book is one that is going to stick with me for a long time. Even as the months pass since my first read, I still find myself thinking about it, still feeling its effects. It reminded me of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian, that same sense of horrific beauty. It might be a while before I can summon the courage to pick it up again for a reread, but this book has earned itself a place on books that will have a permanent place on my bookshelf for the rest of my life. Time will tell, but I would not be surprised if this was taught alongside other classic war fiction novels in college classrooms sometime in the future.  

Final Ranking: 5/5  

Check out In Memoriam by Alice Winn for yourself at Barnes and Noble or your local bookstore!

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