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Tin Man by Sarah Winman (view source)
Revision as of 16:32, 21 February 2018
, 16:32, 21 February 2018no edit summary
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|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>0755390954</amazonuk>|aznuk=0755390954|aznus=0755390954}} '''Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017'''
Ellis is a tin man – someone who practices the under-esteemed art of panel beating. He can remove a dint, dent or blemish by expertly applying force so that you can't even feel where the mark was. If he has to choose what would define his life, though, it wouldn’t be his job. It would be Michael and Annie. Michael, the lad he grew up with and Annie who completed their triangle, changing 'everything and nothing'. Now only Ellis remains…
The Van Gogh print Ellis' mum chooses as a raffle prize isn't just a signal of her independence from her oppressive husband. (I've never cheered out loud so early in a novel before!) Van Gogh, his brother Theo and the French countryside will reappear to add meaning to memory, capturing our imaginations on the way.
This author also has a gift for layering repeated moments to cause shoulder-shaking crescendos. For instance those of us who when reading ''Tin Man'' who were reduced to blubbery by the Walt Whitman poem ''O Captain! My Captain!'' during the film ''Good Will Hunting'' will relive the tears in a different way. Sarah uses the poem dexterously, allowing it to pop up from time to time, building the meaning and literary memories for us so that when that final appearance comes… Tissues at the ready!
Sarah is multi-talented and crops up in the most unexpected places, not only writing fiction but also as an actress in such well-loved series as ''Silent Witness'' and ''Call the Midwife''. Yet, for me, whenever anyone mentions Sarah Winman now, I'll think of Van Gogh, the colours and warmth of France and a three-cornered friendship that can still cause tear-stained emotion and heart-warming joy long after the story finishes. If ever there was a 10* novel squeezed into 5*, this is it.