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. ( )

Oh this story! I went into this knowing very little except that @nursefancypants and @sharon.read.this both rated it highly (and I have learned to trust their judgment) and I am so glad for that. It started out slow for me as I grappled with what story Winman was trying to tell, but once I was pulled in I finished it in a day and was left bereft but also hopeful.

What begins as a story about a painting won in a raffle becomes a testament to the power of friendship and the enduring nature of love.

Ellis and Michael meet as boys, a friendship encouraged by Ellis’s mother who has a particularly close and playful bond with Michael herself, when she passes away many decisions are made for her son that fundamentally change the course of his life and shuts down the person he thought he would be. His sketch pad and pencils are laid aside for an apprenticeship at the local car plant but what endures is his friendship with Michael.

Set across the 50s to mid 90s what I particularly like about this book was that we were not just dealing with Ellis and Michael as boys but as the men they became. The difficulties of the life they live and the grief and tragedy they must deal with. The middle age that sets in and the regrets and choices we can still make in life to reclaim parts of ourselves left behind.

This was so moody, which I loved. The scenes she creates make me nostalgic for things I never experienced. ( )