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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
This book was beautiful. I felt so much for these characters in so few pages.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A heart-breaking novel about love, loss, grief, loneliness, and finding a way to live again.
It is the story of Ellis; his first love, Michael; and Ellis’ wife, Annie—the unique bond the three of them share.
All of the stuff about Van Gogh reminded me a lot of Byatt’s Still Life.
It is the story of Ellis; his first love, Michael; and Ellis’ wife, Annie—the unique bond the three of them share.
All of the stuff about Van Gogh reminded me a lot of Byatt’s Still Life.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
Tin Man is a devastatingly beautiful portrait of (tragic) queer love and deep-reaching friendship. the natural, easy relationship between ellis and michael, contrasted with their internal struggles with expectations and fears, is fascinating. i loved the interlaced storytelling of the haunting, lonely present and memories of a vibrant past, and how both characters grow closer to themselves again in their respective narrations. this is a gorgeous novel.
A tiny tiny sad sad SAD book.
The saddest thing about Ellis and Michael's love story (whatever the meaning you intend to give to the word love in their case) is that it remains unfinished, unconsummated, it doesn't prevent them from becoming, at some point in their lives, the loneliest men on the planet.
That reminds me of a beautiful quote about George VI that says something like this:
In different circumstances, during their lifetimes, they experience both the crushing despair that comes from being absolutely helpless in front of death and the threat of death, and that wonderful feeling of safe and unconditionate happiness that Paul Morette describes in Borrowed Time (reading right now) as "The respite between sieges".
That's what makes those two characters so precious to me, so real, so desperately in search of a place where they can fit.
However cynical my attitude may it be when it comes to love stories (I usually dislike it fiercely), I even liked the air of final redemption this book is filled of, this idea of love vincit omnia and time heals all the wounds and such alike.
I liked every part of the book, even the most cliché, even the soppiest quote. The characters didn't sound artificial in the slightest (to me at least) and nothing sounded even remotely judgemental, only raw and honest. It seems to me that good characters can make even clichés sound good.
I think this will be one of the very few books I'll gladly read again in the future. A very distant, remote future, because I'm not a masochist and this is a very, very sad book.
The saddest thing about Ellis and Michael's love story (whatever the meaning you intend to give to the word love in their case) is that it remains unfinished, unconsummated, it doesn't prevent them from becoming, at some point in their lives, the loneliest men on the planet.
That reminds me of a beautiful quote about George VI that says something like this:
"All alone on a great empty beach, the King of England stepped into the Indian Ocean and jumped up and down. The loneliest man, at that moment, in the world."
In different circumstances, during their lifetimes, they experience both the crushing despair that comes from being absolutely helpless in front of death and the threat of death, and that wonderful feeling of safe and unconditionate happiness that Paul Morette describes in Borrowed Time (reading right now) as "The respite between sieges".
That's what makes those two characters so precious to me, so real, so desperately in search of a place where they can fit.
However cynical my attitude may it be when it comes to love stories (I usually dislike it fiercely), I even liked the air of final redemption this book is filled of, this idea of love vincit omnia and time heals all the wounds and such alike.
"...and remember my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."
I liked every part of the book, even the most cliché, even the soppiest quote. The characters didn't sound artificial in the slightest (to me at least) and nothing sounded even remotely judgemental, only raw and honest. It seems to me that good characters can make even clichés sound good.
I think this will be one of the very few books I'll gladly read again in the future. A very distant, remote future, because I'm not a masochist and this is a very, very sad book.