I am never the type to gravitate towards mainstream, contemporary romance because of� the interesting choices from authors on what theFuck it� 5 stars
I am never the type to gravitate towards mainstream, contemporary romance because of� the interesting choices from authors on what they deem as romantic (often the theme of abuse and violence are romanticized and such) but for some reason Ana Huang’s CEO billionaire romance got me locked in. I even enjoyed it, despite some hella icky and questionable choices the characters made. But in the end� I was rooting for them ...more
In Latin, ‘in memoriam� translates to “in memory of.� But what exactly is Alice Winn trying to memorialize in “In Memoriam�?Winn doesn’t just use the In Latin, ‘in memoriam� translates to “in memory of.� But what exactly is Alice Winn trying to memorialize in “In Memoriam�?Winn doesn’t just use the phrase as a poetic nod to loss; she uses it as a tool to wrestle with the fragility of morality in the context of war. Through her narrative, she commemorates—and critiques—war. What does war provide but a means to an end? Yet, what “end� is truly achieved? In her search for answers, Winn’s critique extends beyond war itself to the constructs of boyhood and manhood that perpetuate it. She reveals how “boys raised boys� in systems that glorify violence, showing war as the ultimate product of these gendered frameworks—a force responsible for eroding the very humanity and morality it claims to defend.
Winn’s paradox is poignant: war, though profoundly inhumane, is a deeply human creation. But what else is a raw human creation, if not love? To love is to create, and in creating, humanity also wields the power to destroy. Love and war are inextricably linked, like Aphrodite and Ares—a union of contradiction. This tension between creation and destruction runs like an undercurrent throughout the novel, forcing readers to confront the uneasy truth of war’s impact on human relationships and morality.
While the societal narrative of war and nationalism remains stagnant, the personal relationships it fractures and reshapes are anything but static. Those who endure war never emerge unscathed. War never truly ends—it lingers, haunting everything it touches. Winn captures this in the dynamic between Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. From their early days at Preshute to their enlistment, from the trenches of No Man’s Land to their return to England, their relationship is forever altered. It is messy, uncomfortable, and tragic—a mirror to the chaos of war itself.
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