Follow, follow, follow, follow, Annie and Michael sang arm in arm along Hill Top Road. June 1978. Two weeks before the wedding. Michael had organized the stag and hen and had merged them into one. Travel light, he'd said. Flip-flops, shorts, that type of thing. Ellis watched them up ahead. The doors to Mabel's van were open and Michael had unfolded a large map that the breeze was lifting. He heard Annie ask, So where are we going, Mikey?
Tin Man has huge ratings and comes with a warning to keep tissues nearby, but it made me feel very little; I don't get the hype. A slight book – it only takes about three hours to read – I admire how author Sarah Winman was able to pack a whole life between its pages; but because so little actually happens (just a few big things) there's not much I can write in a review without giving it all away. Bottom line: I don't regret reading this, but it didn't knock my socks off.
There's something about first love, isn't there? It's untouchable to those who played no part in it. But it's the measure of all that follows.After a brief introductory scene – in which we meet the main character's parents in the throes of an unhappy marriage – the narrative fast-forwards to 1996, where Ellis is a grieving widower going through the motions of living. He's in his mid-forties, works at removing slight imperfections in the bodies of new vehicles at the local Car Plant, and although everyone around him is desperate to get Ellis to re-engage with life, it seems he will never get over losing his beloved wife. This setup – with its intriguing mysteries, grief-drenched atmosphere, and sympathetic protagonist – was a beautiful opening. The story introduces Ellis' memories in an organic manner, and not only does the reader learn how he met (and lost) Annie, but it also presents another important character: Michael, the orphan who moved to town when Ellis was twelve, the two of them becoming the best of friends. We learn that the three of them – Ellis, Annie, and Michael – became an inseparable threesome, until some falling out caused Michael to move away. So many mysteries left to solve, not least of which is: where is Michael, now that Ellis needs him most?
I wonder what the sound of a heart breaking might be. And I think it might be quiet, unperceptively so, and not dramatic at all. Like the sound of an exhausted swallow falling gently to earth.We eventually learn where Michael is, and when Ellis discovers his friend's diary (which makes up the second half of the book), we learn where he has been. I didn't much care for this device, and although Michael's story was intriguing on its own, it didn't have as much emotional fallout over Ellis' story as I think it might have; I got the impression that Ellis was happy with his choices. That's all I can say about that.
Ellis goes to the shutters. He pulls them open and the frame fills with sunflowers, a yellow world of beauty stretching as far as the eye can see. He lights a cigarette and leans against the ledge. Swallows soar with heat on their wings.So, a short review for a short book – Sarah Winman can definitely write some lovely sentences, but all together, this book was just okay.
