hongjoongie 's review for:

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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He tried not to think too much about things, out there in nature, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. When it didn't, he cycled back thinking his life was far from how he had intended it to be. 

 

He made me feel who I'd been all those years ago with Ellis—who am I kidding? He reminded me of Ellis and not just in looks but how intense he was, how hidden, and I became the boy l'd once been, living out the fantasy of a long-gone youth. 

 

I felt as if nothing else had previously existed. As if the colors and smells of this new country eradicated memory, as if every day rolled back to Day One, bringing with it the chance to experience it all again. I'd never felt more my self. Or more in tune to what I was and what I was capable of. A moment of authenticity when fate and blueprint collide and everything is not only possible, but within arm's reach. And I fell in love. Madly, intoxicatingly so. 

 

I watch two young men sitting opposite one another. Their legs are stretched out and occasionally they brush. A nudge with a foot on the other's thigh. They are boys in the bodies of men, but still boys, still gauche, still unsure. I catch glimpses of my young self in the reflection, as the landscape changes from warmth to cool, from wild to manicured, with gray clouds gathering low around the high-most hills. 
I look at these young men, not in envy but in wonder. It is for them now, the beauty of discovery, that endless moonscape of life unfolding. 

 

Men and boys should be capable of beautiful things. 

 

Such a beautiful mix of grief and hope. I was crying by page 20. Wonderful characters. This is Nettles by Ethel Cain in book form.