BE READY TO CRY YOUR HEART OUT
By BRADY JONES
@modernangelo
I’m a visual person, so, yes, a book’s cover design can influence my purchasing decisions. It’s a cardinal sin, I know — so sue me.
(But don’t really.)
Naturally I was drawn to the aqua hue (my favorite), the Van Gough art, and the bold and subtle font combination choices.
And I have never been more glad for my misguided ability to choose a book.
“Tin Man” has secured a place among my all-time favorites.
This short novel is anything but short on everything else as it follows the lives and complex love among three people, weaving through their shared histories and the complicated connections they create.
English actress and author Sarah Winman has created an incredible bit of work that will make you feel so many emotions — many of them contradictory — at the same time.
“And 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.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(from the publisher)
Tin Man is narrated by both Michael and Ellis, each in a different section. What was this reading experience like? Whose story is this?
The female characters in the novel are pivotal in Michael’s and Ellis’s lives—we see this through Dora and her kindness to Michael, Mabel taking in Ellis, and then Annie taking on Michael as almost an integral part of her relationship with Ellis. In what ways do these three women underpin Michael’s and Ellis’s lives, and their relationship?
What do you think the title, Tin Man, refers to? Discuss its possible meanings.
Discuss the use of the color yellow throughout the story, taking a close look at the van Gogh painting that features in the book.
How is Michael and Ellis’s relationship affected by the time and place they live in? Consider their childhood in Oxford, their summer in France, and their adult lives after Michael returns.
Discuss the different ways that grief and mourning are portrayed in Tin Man. Think about the reactions of Ellis, his father, and Michael after losing someone they love.
Ellis and Michael each describe their summer together in France in 1969. Discuss this pivotal time period and its impact on the characters, as well as your experience reading about it from two different points of view.
How does Annie connect with both Ellis and Michael? How did you see her role in the trio?
What do you imagine happens to Ellis after the close of the book? What kind of life do you hope he lives?
Do you think Tin Man is ultimately a sad story? A hopeful one? How did you feel after reaching the end of the novel?
Hear author Sarah Winman discuss the top five books that influenced her writing in this quick interview at Waterstones bookstore.
REVIEWS
“Winman has crafted something of a small miracle here.… The slow build of emotion and the cascade of quiet, well-earned tears are testament to how rich this meditation on love, art, loss and redemption truly is.”
- New York Times
“A spare, physically small novel that feels epic.… The book is filled, like brush strokes on canvas, with the quiet moments of kindness and true friendship that make up a life.”
- Winnipeg Free Press
“I understood as I read about Ellis that Winman was drilling for hope. I didn’t believe she was going to find it and was amazed, enthralled — and brought to helpless tears — when she did.”
- The Globe and Mail