This book was slim but packed an outsize emotional wallop. It’s a sweet, wistful story about a pair of young men, Ellis and Michael, growing up in Oxford, and the bond between them that shifts as they grow up and their circumstances change, and how Ellis winds up alone in his 30s. It’s all character development, very little in the way of plot, which tend to be the books that work best for me. The prose is simple but poignant. It doesn’t use quotation marks to set off dialogue, which some readers find irritating but I found worked just fine in context. I really really loved it, it was beautiful and heartwarming and heartbreaking. ( )

A warm, tender heartbreaking book about a trio of friends, reminiscent of Jules et Jim, and the power of art and love to change daily lives. The Guardian quotes the beginning of the story:
In the prologue to [a:Sarah Winman|4197193|Sarah Winman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357479615p2/4197193.jpg]'s third novel, a woman defies her husband at the local community centre when, upon winning a raffle, she chooses as her prize not the whisky her husband desires but a reproduction of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: “It was her first ever act of defiance. Like cutting off an ear. And she’d made it in public.�
Lovely writing, empathetic characters and a satisfying tale set in Oxford and the South of France amidst the sunflowers. I looked forward to each reading. ( )

Did not finish Tin Man. I was expecting so much from this because I absolutely loved Still Life by Sarah Winman. This did nothing for me at all. ( )

Tragic and messes you up but you don't really mind. ( )

Winman is very good at creating vivid, flawed, and lovable characters, and very believable relationships between them. Tin Man is about three people who care very deeply for each other, sometimes as friends and sometimes as lovers. The story unfolds unsequentially. The reader knows from the opening chapter that it ends in grief, but Winman manages to pull off a bittersweet ending. I saw a blurb somewhere that says this book will warm your heart while also breaking it, and that is totally true. For a short book, it packs a big emotional punch. ( )