I read this book not knowing what I was getting into. The blurb sounded enchanting and one particular review made me pop this book into my Amazon basket. I have been enthralled.
Amazon blurb:
This is almost a love story. But it’s not as simple as that.
Ellis and Michael are twelve-year-old boys when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more.
But then we fast forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between?
With beautiful prose and characters that are so real that they jump off the page, Tin Man is a love letter to human kindness and friendship, and to loss and living.
My reading experience:
This is a poetic story of three people in love, the tale divided into two parts; the individual perspectives and journeys of Ellis and Michael. It is enigmatic, beautifully tragic, and evokes sentiments of sadness and joy. It made me reflect on love – family, friends and partners in my life. And reflection is a good word for this insight into the lives of Ellis, Michael and Annie. Love and life is wrapped around one painting of bright yellow sunflowers, and entangled around the hearts of these three beautifully composed characters. Ellis and Michael are inextricably linked through trauma, love and loss, and then along comes Annie.
“…Cadmium Orange, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Violet … Naples Yellow Light ...”
Tender and bewitching, warming and infinitely exquisite; a story about grief, friendship, love, trust and loss.
Themes: love, grief, loneliness, friendship, connections, family, trust, sexuality
Appletree Books 