Title: Tin Man
Author: Sarah Winman
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Pages: 224 (Paperback)
Publisher: Viking Canada
Publication date: May 15th, 2018
Synopsis from Tin Man's Goodreads page
4 hours, 33 minutes
This is almost a love story.
Ellis and Michael are twelve 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?
This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that.
This is a book that I was drawn to because of the cover (isn't it GORGEOUS?) as well as how short it was. Also, it has a 4.05 rating on Goodreads, and so I figured it must be good! Reading the synopsis, I also had super high hopes for it, but unfortunately it fell really flat for me.
Everyone has been absolutely raving about this book, and it is on a lot of really big lists from publishers and on the news, so I know that a lot of people are going to really disagree with me, but unfortunately I really didn't enjoy this as much as everyone else seems to.
One of my major issues with this book is how everything was described. Every single detail was painfully described, and not in the best way. I enjoy a lot of description, but I feel that about 50% of this book was just descriptions, and no real story line. There's a huge chunk of the book where the author is just describing France, and the streets and it was just list after list of street names and building names and I got really, really turned around and had no idea what was happening.
I found that the shortness of this book wasn't good for this case. I find that a lot of things were left unfinished, and I feel like I have more questions coming out of reading this book then I did going into it.
I also feel like I was expecting a happier story, one about love and happiness, but I was shocked to when I finished it. It was so sad and I feel like nothing actually...happened in this book? It just made me sad when I finished it and I'm not even sure why, because if someone asked me to explain this book I feel like reading the synopsis would give you all you needed to know.
That being said, I did enjoy what the author was trying to do to show the differences between gay relationships and straight relationships, and I really enjoyed what she did in showing friendships and how if you have the right people around you everything will be okay in the end. I really enjoyed the relationship aspects, but I wasn't able to really enjoy them until I had hit the second part of the book, where the second main character is telling the story.
I did also enjoy how the book was formatted differently; this book didn't have any chapters, so you could just read it right through to the end, which was different and I feel like it was a good idea for how short the book is. I also enjoyed how she didn't use quotation marks when the characters were speaking; it was strange at first but after about 35,40 pages I was able to get used to it and I feel like it really added to the story. Also, how the second half of the book changes over to the other main characters point of view was very enjoyable; I actually preferred the second part of the book to the first part.
I really wanted to love this book as much as everyone else seems to, but I feel like it didn't leave any mark on me and I feel like I wasn't able to really gain anything from this book. The formatting of the book was really interesting and cool, and I loved the relationships. The whimsy was just a bit too much for me unfortunately!
I definitely would suggest giving this book a read though, as 99% of people who read it seem to absolutely adore it; it just wasn't for me!
Synopsis from Tin Man's Goodreads page
4 hours, 33 minutes
This is almost a love story.
Ellis and Michael are twelve 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?
This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that.
THOUGHTS
I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - Thank you Penguin!
This is a book that I was drawn to because of the cover (isn't it GORGEOUS?) as well as how short it was. Also, it has a 4.05 rating on Goodreads, and so I figured it must be good! Reading the synopsis, I also had super high hopes for it, but unfortunately it fell really flat for me.
Everyone has been absolutely raving about this book, and it is on a lot of really big lists from publishers and on the news, so I know that a lot of people are going to really disagree with me, but unfortunately I really didn't enjoy this as much as everyone else seems to.
One of my major issues with this book is how everything was described. Every single detail was painfully described, and not in the best way. I enjoy a lot of description, but I feel that about 50% of this book was just descriptions, and no real story line. There's a huge chunk of the book where the author is just describing France, and the streets and it was just list after list of street names and building names and I got really, really turned around and had no idea what was happening.
I found that the shortness of this book wasn't good for this case. I find that a lot of things were left unfinished, and I feel like I have more questions coming out of reading this book then I did going into it.
I also feel like I was expecting a happier story, one about love and happiness, but I was shocked to when I finished it. It was so sad and I feel like nothing actually...happened in this book? It just made me sad when I finished it and I'm not even sure why, because if someone asked me to explain this book I feel like reading the synopsis would give you all you needed to know.
That being said, I did enjoy what the author was trying to do to show the differences between gay relationships and straight relationships, and I really enjoyed what she did in showing friendships and how if you have the right people around you everything will be okay in the end. I really enjoyed the relationship aspects, but I wasn't able to really enjoy them until I had hit the second part of the book, where the second main character is telling the story.
I did also enjoy how the book was formatted differently; this book didn't have any chapters, so you could just read it right through to the end, which was different and I feel like it was a good idea for how short the book is. I also enjoyed how she didn't use quotation marks when the characters were speaking; it was strange at first but after about 35,40 pages I was able to get used to it and I feel like it really added to the story. Also, how the second half of the book changes over to the other main characters point of view was very enjoyable; I actually preferred the second part of the book to the first part.
I really wanted to love this book as much as everyone else seems to, but I feel like it didn't leave any mark on me and I feel like I wasn't able to really gain anything from this book. The formatting of the book was really interesting and cool, and I loved the relationships. The whimsy was just a bit too much for me unfortunately!
I definitely would suggest giving this book a read though, as 99% of people who read it seem to absolutely adore it; it just wasn't for me!
Overall - ★★☆☆☆
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