Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

19 reviews

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, just wow

I have previously adored Still Life and When God Was A Rabbit and enjoyed A Year Of Marvellous Ways.  Everyone one said what a masterpiece this was, so I decided to stop saving this for a rainy day and get on and read it.

You know what, those people weren't wrong. However, if you do read this, and I very much recommend that you do, you are going to need tissues throughout because it is the definition of heartbreakingly beautiful. 

The story opens with a pregnant woman telling an abusive husband where he and she stand after coming home from winning a painting in a raffle.

We then flash forward thirty years, and Ellis starts to tell his own story, including meeting Michael, whose perspective we hear from later in the novel. 

We follow them down the yellow brick road of life through the A.I.D.S. crisis to a point of self-acceptance.  However, these two men both have very big hearts.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Death

Minor: Physical abuse, Bullying, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Child abuse

berrytart's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was great, emotional but amazing nonetheless!

The relationships are well written, I feel like I could actually connect with the feelings of the characters!

Okay this is more of a pet peeve, nothing against the story, but I couldn’t stand the sentences having no quotation marks! It really isn’t that big of a deal and it was probably just a design choice but still!

(I am so sleepy when making this review, my bad for any mistakes lol)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: Car accident, Sexual content, Medical content, and Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment

shelfofunread's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Car accident, Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

caoimheisme's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Car accident

kelsea's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Death

Minor: Car accident

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

its about the fact that they loved at all that makes this book so tragic... that they loved and lost but didnt lose each other and then did lose each other and then found each other again only for ellis to lose both of his loves with such finality...goodbye. im gonna think abt this book for a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Car accident, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content and Cursing

babblingbooks's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Characters with HIV/AIDS, and descriptions of the 80s crisis, death from the same.

danaaliyalevinson's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was pretty beautiful. The first half was a little meandering, but it really started to sing in its second half. This also felt like an AIDS crisis book done right, focused on the queer people whose lives were affected, and the interplay between the AIDS crisis and internalized homophobia and shame about queer sexuality. I am also partial to love stories that exist beyond labels, which definitely applied to this book. The two main characters, yes, were queer men, but one was never explicitly labeled, and all we as the audience had to know was that they loved each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Grief, Car accident, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

sofiajearally's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's a story about Michael and Ellis, about yearning and words left unsaid. 

It reads like a stream of consciousness, interspersed with hard-hitting dialogue, then-and-now scenes nicely and seamlessly interwoven. But I would have liked to have more focus on some moments (like

Michael's and Ellis's childhood leading up to their first kiss

), while some others were too long and descriptive in my opinion. In the end, while both main characters are lovable, we spend more time with Michael and I ended up getting him much more than Ellis, who's made decisions that I still didn't understand at the end of the book. One would argue that that's how life is, though. 

It feels real. The yearning, the grieving, the regrets, all parts of the human experience depicted gracefully, heart-breaking in how ordinary and relatable they are (the wedding scenes broke me). I was personally deeply moved by how random acts of kindness are peppered throughout the book and how the characters respond to them. The side characters behind them are endearing, and the women are so g.o.o.d.

In a way, this book reminded me a lot of Brokeback Mountain, though the plot is different. But it's still about time, masculinity and taking someone for granted. And it's sad, man. Ellis 'I ain't queer' Judd *sigh*. 

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed by the story, but the book is so full of gorgeous themes and mesmerizing lines that I'm still happy I read it. I think the no-plot-just-vibes sad people would appreciate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Misogyny

someonelikeblue's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol, Excrement, Violence, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Medical content, and Domestic abuse