Tin Man

I wanted to read this after I so enjoyed Still Life. This is similar in that she beautifully captures friendship and love among young people. it also has a similar working class culture background. And it also has an appreciation of, and focus on, art as a source of life and hope. This is a shorter piece, and reminds me of a watercolor painting. I did find it difficult to follow the plot, probably partly because I was listening. I also found it to be kind of depressing, but perhaps it just wasn't the right book for me at this moment. I might not have finished it if it weren't so short.

I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending, especially since the writing in the first 2/3rds was amazing and vivid. I could picture it all but while the lead up was good, since the story's timeline already told you the ending, it didn't have as much of an emotional impact. I looked at a few other reviews and the 3 stars tend to say the same thing as well. It's interesting that the author chose to write in Michael's narrative for so long (almost too long) only to drag out the story unnecessarily.

3.25 // reminiscent of giovanni's room, though IMO nothing and no one could EVER top mr baldwin himself.

2.5

Messy. I can't even call this “over described” because it doesn't really describe much, it just dumps street names at you hoping it sticks. The whole “June 1990, France” chapter feels like the epithome of the “Going to France? Learn everything in hindsight (they hate tourists)” talk, because one thing is giving me spatial context, the other is just giving me meaningless french words for 40 pages expecting that I'm aware of every single corner in France.
The plot itself is loose, it's divided into two parts that felt that should develop together. That doesn't happen and we just get two points of view that sometimes converge through repetition (“Remember when X did that?”, “Remember when I, X, did that?”).
And of course, all of that could've worked really well either way, a lot of books do these things!, so what went wrong? Too many themes, not enough time to deal with any of them, I think. I know exactly what Sarah was trying to do but that's nothing if the narrative itself doesn't convince me of such: a lot of things happened and I didn't feel a single thing.

i really don't think this was my kind of book which is disappointing but i can understand why other readers have connected with it

Really quite beautiful. I found myself drawing out my reading time for this book, and almost wanting to find a tree to sit under and slowly soak up this story.

It's a story of love, loss and loneliness (or so I read), and it's was beautifully paced dropping back and forth from different points in time for the two main characters. Describing emotions and the tiniest moments in such a loving and tender way. It truly made me want to slow down and just watch the love that moves around us every day.

I want to give this a 4.5 but the stars apparently must be whole or not at all. I just found the ending a little abrupt. But that may have also been confused by the fact that the last 6% (10-ish minutes) of the book was an interview with the author (which was interesting enough), it just threw me when the tale was finished.

All the same, quite beautiful.

I wish we could give half star ratings, because I would rate this 4.5/5, rather than 4/5. (I save 5 star ratings for truly exceptional works).

Very nearly a 5* fell in love with the characters & found myself thinking of this many times since finishing.

Beautiful, concise and powerful writing.

Sarah Winman somehow manages to infuse her latest with a pervading sense of melancholia. Her words are the long shadows of a late fall afternoon stretching across the page. I mean I love me some of that bittersweet and this book offers up just the right dose of it.

We meet Ellis, trudging through his days at the factory. He's lost his wife and best friend in a car accident 5 years ago and the life of color and imagination his mother might have wished for him died with her as he becomes the man his father demanded.

All he has left are faded photographs, fond memories, and the journal of his best friend. It sounds like it could easily devolve into TV movie bathos but Winman keeps a steady hand on the wheel and keeps it short. Gorgeous.

Beautiful sorrow....
..... with hope

I feel this was sadly overhyped to me. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful little book, talking of love and friendship, about dreams and regrets, about the prisons others put us in, and about loss and grief. It jumps in time, with a gentle introspective narration, sketching slight mysteries about how our main protagonist Ellis ended up where he ended up. We spend time with him in the here and now, as he's living a quiet life full of sadness, slowly making new connections to people he's shut out for long. And we get to know his past, by visiting moments of his youth and adolescence and early adulthood, happy years he spent with his best friend Michael. They become lovers, yet were not meant to be. A lot of this feels very [b:Call Me by Your Name 36336078 Call Me by Your Name André Aciman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519203520s/36336078.jpg 1363157] - which is probably an unfair critique, as a lot of gay romances have to deal with similar themes, the secrecy, the self doubt, the escape to a happy else-where, the return to reality. But, why did this book also have to mention so many peaches?! :) Hard not to read it as a nod to Aciman's novel. I was all sold on the book in the first half, the melancholy, the quiet moments, the hint of an epic love (or two), but then I feel it somehow lost it's stride in the 2nd half. The different narration style, when it came to Michael's side of the story, didn't fully blend in. Also, it all became a bit too sentimental (that ending with the photograph, It was a moment in time, that's all, shared with strangers.) for my taste. Or maybe it was too slim, not giving me enough time to fully attach to the characters, to actually grief them. 3.5

I would rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really loved the complexity of the three way relationship between Ellis and Annie and Micheal. I loved that sexuality in this book as well as friendship and loss and grief were all explored fluidly and with sincerity. I found the ending just a little contrived and so it didn't give me the emotive ending I was looking for, however I cannot take umbrage with Sarah Winman for that. Over all I found the book beautiful. I loved all elements of it, including the parts set in France which is a compliment to Winman's writing as usually I find holiday segments in other books rather trying and tedious. I loved the fact that the revelations surrounding Micheal and Annie weren't forced or over-romanticised and that Sarah Winman trusted you as a reader to connect the dots and the memories in a way you saw fit without forcing you to feel a certain way by making a memory obvious in terms of the characters emotions at the time or in hindsight which some authors do. Overall an incredibly impressive novel and a story very character driven with loveable and fascinating characters to dive into and connect with. Also for a 200 page book it delivers so much richness in plot and character development without losing its integrity. A talent which some authors don't have the restraint or experience to accomplish. So well done Sarah Winman!

Oof. Ouch. Oh my.

Superb writing and a moving story. Compulsively readable. Heavy with melancholy but with a hopefulness, too.